A Phantom Awaits You
by Flashbeagle
Summary: Chapter Ten: After Boot Hill, Kim and the gang have to figure out what to do next, though they have no clue how to proceed. Also, the gang makes a close encounter with the elusive bride, Miss Melanie. Based off Disneyland Paris's Phantom Manor attraction.
1. It's Ravenswood Manor, Kim Fox!

**A Phantom Awaits You**

Rated PG-13 for language, adult situations, and frightening images. You have been warned…

This story is based off the Phantom Manor attraction in Frontierland at Disneyland Paris, formerly known as Euro Disney, which opened in 1992. Unlike the Haunted Mansion attractions, which do not have 'official' background stories, PM does have an official story penned by Imagineers that is found on the ride fact sheet that can be found at http:www.ravenswood-manor.com.

Phantom Manor belongs to Disney, as does the Haunted Mansion and any other Disney things that are referenced to in this story.

Kimberly, her interns, her family, and her friends are my own original characters. Carr News Service, the company Kim works for, is fictional. The character of Lawrence is an elaboration of the PM ride character of the man whose corpse we see dangling in the stretching room, presumed to be murdered by the Phantom.

This story is in continuity with Kim's prior adventure, When You Hear the Knell of a Requiem Bell. WYHTKOARB takes place in February of 2004, and this story follows in September of the same year.

And now…the opening notes are done…so enjoy the story. To start off, we have a quote from a Disney movie that I think perfectly illustrates Phantom Manor…

_It's a nightmare but it's one exciting ride.-_ Beauty and the Beast 

Chapter One

I tried to get out of this. Really, I did. But because my boss is a pushy jerk, I was stuck with this assignment. Well, okay, my boss isn't a jerk, but I really, really didn't want to write this article anyway.

"Come on, Kim! You always do a great job at these haunted house stories!" John cajoled.

"I don't want to John." Because the last time I did one, I nearly died because a ghost thought that I was the reincarnation of his wife who had at last returned to him forever. But I couldn't exactly tell my boss that…I mean, would YOU believe someone who told you that when trying to get out of an assignment?

So despite my protests of not wanting to get stereotyped as a writer, which was the excuse I used for months, I got stuck writing about Ravenswood Manor, a haunted mansion in a place called Thunder Mesa, Nevada, where people have been reportedly been seeing the ghost of a bride wandering throughout the house, singing to herself. Local legends say that she was jilted on her wedding day, but believed that her groom would return to her, so she waited for the rest of her life, but he never came. And now, even in death, she waits for him.

I'm sorry, but that's just pathetic.

Oh, um, sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Kimberly Elizabeth Fox, known to most people as Kim. I'm 25 years old, and I live in San Antonio, Texas, where I was born and raised, and currently am employed as an investigative travel reporter for Carr News Service. Until last year, that meant all I did was write stupid features on stupid local monuments, but then I wrote a piece on the haunted hotels in downtown S.A. that go picked up by a lot of supernatural-centered publications. That led to my article on Gracey Manor, a giant haunted mansion in New Orleans that's home to 999 ghosts.

Gracey Manor is the reason why I never wanted to set place in a haunted house ever again. When I got there, the house's owner, Edward Gracey, showed a lot of interest in me, which unnerved me to no end. Also unnerving me to no end was a painting I found of a woman who looked exactly like me, who was named Katherine. Then I found out that Edward was a ghost, and that when he was alive, Katherine had been his wife. He was convinced I was her reincarnation, and for a while, I almost thought the same thing because of these really creepy flashback type events I kept on having. Now, I can see that my mind was just playing tricks on me.

At least, that's what I keep telling myself in order to maintain my sanity.

But anyway, I somehow became convinced that I really was Katherine and Edward was planning to kill me so that I could be a ghost with him when my best friend Ben burst in, with help from a dead bride named Emily, and helped me get back to reality, as I had called him earlier that night. Whenever I think about how close I came to…ugh, I can't even tell you how scared I get. I was reliving the experience for quite a while. So you can see that my aversion to haunted places is totally understandable.

I realize not all haunted houses are haunted by men who were married to women who looked exactly like me, but still. And while I believed that I was Katherine, I was all dressed up in this fancy ice blue dress, and ever since then I've had an aversion to that particular shade of light blue. Which is really too bad, because I used to love that color and it looked great on me…

But, I digress…

The article on Gracey Manor was actually a pretty big success for me. Not only did it appear in USA Today, different newspapers from across the country also picked it up, and it got me quite a bit of money, which enabled me to buy tons of DVDs and CDs and go on a vacation to Miami with my friends Ben and Tracy. So, not all bad came out of the Gracey Manor ordeal. But however, it gave John, my boss, the idea that I have a talent for writing about the supernatural, and he's been foisting supernatural themed articles on me ever since March, when my article was published. And finally, a few days ago, I gave in to his incessant begging.

So that's why I'm sitting in the parlor of this old haunted mansion, waiting to talk to a tour guide or something. Ravenswood Manor is used as part of a ghost tour in Thunder Mesa, which is like a ghost town that's part of a bigger town called Frontier, so it's been kept up pretty nicely inside. The outside, however, was much different. It was all falling apart and all the hedges were untrimmed. I guess it was done like that to keep up the scary freaky haunted house image. I just got here about an hour ago, after a long flight to Las Vegas, and an hour-long drive to Thunder Mesa.

"Ms. Fox?" A voice asked. The voice belonged to a smiling woman with shiny, straight blonde hair and a hunter green suit on. She looked alive enough, but then again, I've been fooled before.

"That's me." I said, standing up.

"Ms. Fox, nice to meet you. My name is Gloria Meyers, and I'm the guide for the Haunted Thunder Mesa tour. Welcome to Ravenswood Manor."

"Thanks." I said.

"Would you like a tour of the house?" Ms. Meyers said, still using a friendly tone.

"Sure." I said. There was nothing about Ms. Meyers that put me on the edge, so I took that as a good sign.

Ms. Meyers pointed to some paintings on a wall in a nearby corridor. "See those paintings?"

"Yeah." I nodded. La la la…this is boring. But I think I'd rather be bored than in peril.

"Notice anything?" The four different paintings all featured the same auburn haired girl in different situations. One showed her out in a garden, one with a man on a picnic, one of her wading, and one of her holding a red parasol. One of the paintings eerily resembled one at Gracey Manor. (Not the painting of Katherine, my doppelganger from the 1880s)

"They're all of the same girl." I said. I sure hope that's what she wanted me to notice…please don't let her be talking about anything like shading or line usage, because I'm clueless about that stuff.

"Uh huh. Her name was Melanie Ravenswood. Legend has it that on her wedding day, she was jilted by her groom, who was never seen again. She spent the rest of her life wandering throughout the Manor, convinced that her groom would return."

Even though I had heard the story before, and many similar stories on the Travel Channel, I nodded as if I hadn't.

"Rumors say that Melanie's fiancé was murdered by a jealous ghost. Supposedly before the ceremony he was lured into this very portrait gallery. Before he knew what happened, there was a noose around the poor young man's neck and he was hanged to death by a cackling specter." Ms. Meyers pointed up to the top, where you could see a skeleton hanging.

Oh my God. My blood ran cold.

"Ms. Fox? Are you okay?"

"Oh, um, yeah. That's just…disturbingly similar to something that was at Gracey Manor, the last place I did an article like this on. Except the man hanged committed suicide because he believed he couldn't go on living without his wife." Yeah, his wife who looked exactly like me. "And, there's a painting just like that one over there." I said, pointing to the one of Melanie Ravenswood with a parasol. "But…kinda sorta different."

"Wow. Spooky. The hanging corpse terrifies our guests. To be honest, no one knows how it got there. Nobody can even get up that high, because all staircases leading up to the attic and ceiling were destroyed in an earthquake in 1860." Ms. Meyers informed. She sounds like such a history teacher.

"Well, either way it's still gross." I said.

Ms. Meyers laughed. "You got that right, Ms. Fox. Anyway, let's look down here." We walked into a new hallway where there were some smaller paintings. At the very end of the hallway was a giant painting of Melanie Ravenswood, all decked out in her bridal gown. She had actually been a very pretty girl, with bright green eyes that complimented her shiny red hair nicely.

"Anyway, Martha Ravenswood, Melanie's mother, had been a typical Southern belle. Her father Henry was the son of Thunder Mesa's first mayor. Neither Henry nor Martha was thrilled with Melanie's fiancé, who was a railroad worker. They didn't think he was good enough for their little girl. They wanted her to marry another man, a rising young politician, but she wouldn't hear of it. Henry and Martha finally accepted him, but they were killed a month before the wedding was scheduled, so Melanie pushed the date back."

"That's horrible." I said.

Ms. Meyers nodded. "It is a rather sordid story. After she was jilted on her wedding day, Melanie refused to take down the wedding decorations or to even change out of her wedding dress. People started circulating rumors that she had gone insane. What is true is that Melanie never again left this house. If she survived, she'd be around 150 years old. People used to hear her singing as they passed the house by, and then they'd say, 'there goes mad Miss Melanie again'. That singing has never stopped."

Normally, I'd think that Ms. Meyers was just trying to make the place seem interesting, but ever since Gracey Manor I've totally believed in the supernatural. Before I could make any comments, Ms. Meyers asked me,

"Ms. Fox, do you believe in ghosts?"

Once, I answered this question with an assertive "No." Things have since changed. "Totally." I said.

"Have you ever had a close encounter?"

"Yeah." Way too many.

Ms. Meyers nodded. "You know something? I've seen her. Melanie Ravenswood, I mean. I was upstairs, passing by one of the bedrooms, and I saw her, sitting at a table, crying. But she was old and wrinkled, though her hair was still auburn. But the really strange part was that, well, her mirror was the image of a skull. I blinked, and then everything was back to normal."

"How weird."

"Ms. Fox, I've got to be honest. Melanie Ravenswood is not the only ghost here. Maybe you could put this in your article. All of us who work here have felt another presence here, one that's, that's…evil."

"Evil?" I repeated. This was new to me. I had been in the presence of ghosts before, and some of them annoyed me, and pretty much all of them scared the crap out of me, but none of them were evil.

"It's a horrible feeling! All of a sudden, you know you're not alone in the room. And then, you can hear a horrible noise that sounds sort of like laughter. Then the lights flicker, and then…"

"And then…" I prompted.

"Everything goes back to normal."

"Ew. Weird. And trust me, I KNOW weird."

Ms. Meyers nodded. "Weird indeed. That's not the only weird stuff that goes on here. Some portraits seem to mysteriously change. Some seem to stretch out. People swear they see the ghost of Melanie Ravenswood holding a candelabra. There have been reports of a skeleton-like specter out on Boot Hill, which is the name of the graveyard out back."

"Have any tourists ever run screaming from the house?" I asked, sort of jokingly.

Ms. Meyers laughed, but then her face turned slightly serious. "Yes. That's happened quite a few times as a matter of fact."

"What is it that scares them so much?" I asked.

"Different people say different things." Ms. Meyers said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Recently, most people have been talking about the skeleton-like specter in the graveyard."

"Yeah, those are pretty damn freaky." I nodded.

"Would you like to see the graveyard? You'd be surprised how many people want to see it."

"Graveyards aren't exactly my thing."

Ms. Meyers nodded. "You don't seem like the type of person who'd be interested in the macabre."

"I'm not, really. Sure, I mean, I've done some articles on haunted places, but I didn't choose to do those, I got assigned them. Trust me, I'd so much rather be like that girl from the Travel Channel who gets to go to all those fancy hotels and host shows about them." I am such a blabbermouth.

Ms. Meyers laughed. "That sounds like fun!"

"Um, you know, I'd better be going now. I gotta check in at the hotel, but um, I'll be back tomorrow to do my research."

"Okay. What time will you be here?"

"About noon?" I offered.

Ms. Meyers nodded. "I'll be here to show you around and answer any questions you might have."

"Thanks!" I said. "It was nice to meet you, Ms. Meyers."

"Nice to meet you too, Ms. Fox. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Um, okay!" I said brightly.

As I left Ravenswood Manor, I felt really, really good for some reason. Even though I had to spend a lot of time at some creepy haunted place, I was actually kind of happy. This place seems pretty interesting and there are no brooding ghosts convinced I'm their wife here.

I think things are going to be just fine.


	2. Kim and the Haunted History

A Phantom Awaits You

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Phantom Manor is the property of Disney and the Imagineers who thought it up. Kim Fox, her friends, and her world are all my own creation.

The next day, the sun shone brightly and a slight breeze tempered the warm early September weather. It was a Kimberly Fox kind of day. Well, a Kimberly Fox kind of day in September. Really, my perfect day is a really hot one, with no clouds in the sky whatsoever, and I'm at the beach, splashing around in the water…Never mind. There are jellyfish at the beach, and let me tell you, getting stung is no, well, no day at the beach. I cried, no, make that _sobbed_, when I got stung. It was really embarrassing, especially since I was 20 when I got stung. Thank God my friend Tracy remembered to bring meat tenderizer that day or else I'd have been screwed. Would you believe meat tenderizer, of all things, helps jellyfish stings? Who the hell thinks of bringing _meat tenderizer_ to the beach???? I'm just lucky Tracy's so paranoid about everything. So I guess my perfect day would be at a pool instead of the beach. Luckily, in Texas, pool weather sometimes lasts into October, so there are tons of my kinds of days in a year. But…this day was a really nice day anyway.

Before I headed over to Ravenswood Manor, I decided to take a look around the rest of Thunder Mesa.

It was a typical ghost town straight out of the movies. There were abandoned saloons and there were tumbleweeds blowing. Every building looked like it was falling apart, and the paint on the buildings and signs was peeling. The ground was dry and cracked. There was also an eerie silence and stillness to everything.

Believe it or not, I thought it was sort of cool. It's like being on a movie set or something. I used to dream about being a movie star when I was a kid. It was the 1980s and campy movies were at their height, and I used to want to be in a campy movie because they always had the coolest pop songs during the end credits…

But…um…that's enough of off-subject stuff for now.

It was a short distance to Ravenswood Manor, so I just walked there. When I got there, I was walking through the gates when I noticed something. There was a tarnished oval-shaped brass plaque with an inscription on it.

**Ravenswood Manor**

**Non omniar moriar**

Hmm. I wonder what that means. It sounds sort of like Latin.

Sounds sort of spooky. I wonder if it got put up to further the creepy ambience about the place.

I shrugged and walked through the gates. Before I entered the house, I stared up at it. When I got here yesterday, I didn't pay much attention to the exterior. The manor was built of light-brown wood, with a fading black roof that looked purplish. The windows were edged in mahogany. Gray, stone steps led to the Manor's porch. All of the windows were cloaked in white curtains, but The building was really, really tall, though narrow-seeming, and just looking at the height of it made me sort of antsy, although I'm not really afraid of heights. The Manor also looked as if it was ready to collapse at any second. I'm sure it was really pretty back when it was new, but now it's just spooky-looking.

Ms. Meyers was there, but she was talking to a group of tourists. Now, I'm sorry, but that's just silly. Who'd want to go on a tour of a haunted place during the daytime? It totally loses the spooky atmosphere! I guess the daytime tour is for the people who are too chicken to go at nighttime. Ms. Meyers waved at me, and I sat down in an old leather It took about ten minutes for Ms. Meyers to finish, so while I waited I amused myself by examining some old photographs. One I noticed had the girl from all those paintings, Melanie Ravenswood, in the arms of a young man with light hair and a big smile on his face. I'm guessing that was her fiancé who was killed on their wedding day.

Sheesh. What is it with these haunted houses and people who got murdered on their wedding day? First there was Emily Gracey over at Gracey Manor and now there was Melanie Ravenswood's boyfriend.

It was too bad. They made a really cute couple.

"Hello, Ms. Fox! How are you?" Ms. Meyers asked once she was done with the tours.

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Would you like me to show you more of the house before you start working on your article? We have a room upstairs where we keep old articles and information about the house. I'm sure you'd find the answers to any questions you have there." Ms. Meyers offered.

"No, that's okay. Maybe later on, but um, I'd really like to see that old article room." I said. For once in my life, I had the drive and initiative to do work. I was in such a good mood that I was determined to work hard on my article and to write the best damn article that the Carr News Service San Antonio Bureau's Travel Department has ever seen before.

And I've also got that initiative since I recently found out that Carr News Service has an award for outstanding travel piece of the year or something and I really, really, really want to win it! The grand prize is a trip to Hawaii. I've never been to Hawaii, but I've always really, really wanted to go.

"Okay. Sounds good." Ms. Meyers said with a friendly smile on her face. She led me up a beautiful, though dusty, dark wood staircase that was covered in cobwebs and overlooked a grand ballroom that was dank and quiet. The floor was completely covered in dust. The furniture looked to be in excellent condition, though cobwebs were draped over it like a blanket. and had decaying wedding decorations up everywhere, including what looked like the remnants moldy wedding cake.

Eeew! I mean, okay, so the poor, unfortunate soul was completely convinced that some day her fiancé would return home to her and they'd get married like they were supposed to, but didn't it ever occur to her that they'd need a new wedding cake? Okay, so just say her fiancé came back ten years later. Was she just planning on eating that disgusting old thing? She had to have gone insane to have thought that.

"This is the library." Ms. Meyers said, leading me into a room with books, notebooks, and folders everywhere. "As you can see, it doesn't have a card catalogue or the Dewey decimal system, but the name works anyway."

"Um, okay." I said.

"If you need anything, I'll be downstairs talking with a group of tourists."

I nodded. "Thanks, Ms. Meyers." Then, I settled down in a chair, picked up a folder, and read its contents.

The house was built in 1849 by Henry Ravenswood, son of Thunder Mesa's mayor, for his wife Martha and their ten-year-old daughter Melanie. Henry owned a railroad company that was very prosperous, and he kept his family living in total luxury. Henry's daughter Melanie grew up into a beautiful young woman, and many young men wanted to marry her. Melanie, however, only loved one of them. His name was Lawrence James, and he worked on her father's railroad. Lawrence proposed to Melanie in 1859, and she accepted, much to her parents' chagrin. Henry and Martha disliked the fact that Lawrence wanted to move to California after he and Melanie got married. Henry tried to convince Melanie to marry another guy, Derek Hawthorne, but she refused. Eventually, Henry gave up, and gave his blessing to the marriage. But on June 15, a few days before the wedding, the fatal earthquake happened and Martha and Henry were killed. Melanie was so sad, she put off the wedding until October. But on the day of the ceremony, Lawrence never showed up. Even though all the guests left, Melanie insisted on staying dressed in her wedding gown, because she thought Lawrence would come back to her. Apparently Melanie stayed dressed in her wedding gown for the rest of her life, and spent her nights and days wandering the house, singing and reassuring herself that someday her groom would come, and they'd get married and have kids and move to California and live happily ever after.

I felt so bad for her. I mean, that totally sucks, having your fiancé just not show up on your wedding day.

Lawrence was never seen again, but some local townspeople claimed that they saw him enter Ravenswood Manor on the day of the wedding. One day, some of Melanie's family came to visit her, but she wouldn't talk to them. She just walked around the house, holding a candelabra and singing. They made their way into the portrait gallery, when suddenly most of the candles got blown out. Next, the people heard a wild, evil cackling sound, and they looked up and saw a skeleton in fancy clothes up in the rafters. Before they knew what was happening, they saw a decaying corpse dangling from a noose being held by the skeleton. The corpse was that of Lawrence James. The people ran out of the house screaming and never returned.

As the years passed, people saw glimpses of Melanie Ravenswood walking around distractedly through the house's windows, and people could hear her singing from outside the house. Supposedly, people still see her through the windows and still hear her singing. Hmm…if those people saw Lawrence James's corpse hanging, then why didn't Melanie? I mean, she was roaming around the house all the time. You think she'd have eventually wandered into the portrait gallery and seen the dead body.

My cell phone rang.

"Fox here!" I said.

"Kim?" It was John, my boss.

"Hey, John. What's up?" I said nonchalantly.

"Kim, Carr News is participating in an internship program with St. Joan of Arc High School,"

"Hey, I went there!"

"Yeah, I know, Kim. Anyway, I was thinking about which of our reporters would be the most interesting to follow, so I came up with five names."

"Who are they?"

"Well, you're one of them!" John said brightly.

"Um, cool. I'll be back in San Antonio in,"

"Well, I'm sending them over now and,"

"YOU'RE SENDING THEM OVER NOW?" I screeched.

"Yeah! They're both two great kids. I think you'd really like them."

"John! I don't want interns! Not right now, anyway. That's just more unnecessary responsibility!" I cried.

"Come on, Kim! Interns are great! You can really learn something from them."

"I thought they were supposed to be learning from me."

"I thought you'd really appreciate having some." John sounded totally crestfallen.

Ugh. Total guilt trip. Why do I always have to feel like the bad guy?

"Okay, John. I'll do it."

"Great! Their names are Charlotte O'Connell and Nathan Evans. They're both high school juniors, and they both write for the school newspaper, like you did."

"Um, I didn't write for the school newspaper." I said. "I spent high school playing basketball, having crushes on guys, and convincing Ben to do my math homework for me."

"Well, anyway. You're a professional journalist now and that's all that matters. Well, anyway, I gotta run, Kim. Ben's interns are starting today and I gotta get them situated."

"Okay, whatever. Bye John." I said. I wrote some notes down on a notepad and got up to look for Ms. Meyers. I figured that I should probably tell her about the interns.

As I exited the room, I took a look around the hallway. The walls were covered in this really strange wallpaper…the background was purple, and it was covered with this odd design that looked like a bunch of pairs of eyes. Across from the doorway was a window draped in a graying white curtain below a burgundy curtain topper thing. Next to the curtain was a chair with green padding and next to the chair was some sort of deceased house plant. Above the late member of the plant kingdom was Henry and Martha Ravenswood's wedding picture. I closed the door to the library. Next to the door was an old hat tree, with an old umbrella, shawl, and hat on it. I spied a candelabra on a table at the far end of the hallway. At first, I thought nothing of it, but then I noticed something really, really weird. The candelabra lifted off the table and started moving towards me.

I held my breath. It was then I noticed that there was a hand around the candelabra. It took a few seconds, but the form of a young woman materialized. Her long, flowing red hair was gently curled. She had totally flawless, acne-free skin, and although she was looking down, I could see she had big, deep green eyes. A wedding veil was perched upon her head, and she was wearing a long, really old-fashioned wedding dress. She was totally beautiful…but not in a supermodel/movie star way, but, I don't know, in a fairy tale princess way. Like she was a fairy or something ageless. Melanie gripped the candelabra tightly and was singing to herself with a hopeful look on her face. There was something quite odd about her, though. Like she wasn't quite real…

Like she was a ghost.

I gasped. It was the ghost of Melanie Ravenswood! The lonely, possibly crazy bride who spent eternity searching for her long-lost love, her murdered fiancé Lawrence!

The room got very, very cold. I was frozen in my tracks. I couldn't speak. I wanted to run as she approached me, but…I couldn't. I was THAT freaked out.

Oh my God. Oh my God!

Right as she came up near me, she looked straight into my eyes, and disappeared.

I let out a yelp and jumped back.

"Oh, shit." I muttered as I caught my breath.

_Okay, just calm down, just calm down. Everything's gonna be okay_, I reassured myself.

I took a deep breath and moved on. I had taken a few steps when I got a chill. My heart started to race and I got really, really scared. I shivered, and I could feel that something was very, very wrong…but I couldn't figure out what.

Suddenly I heard a low, strange noise that vaguely sounded like a cackle. My heart slammed in my chest. I started to hyperventilate. Then, the noise went away as freakishly suddenly as it came. I let out a deep breath and looked around the hallway. I felt like…I don't know…like something was watching me.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe things won't be alright.

Author's End Notes: There is no library on the PM ride, I made that up.

Those of you familiar with PM may already know the meaning of Non Ominar Moriar. Kim's not going to find out what it means for a few more chapters.

Kim's interns Charlotte O'Connell and Nathan Evans won't be showing up for a few more chapters.

Thanks to the reviewers!

For more PM/HM related reading, check out Crescent Venus's Tribute, found in the Sabrina the Teenage Witch section of Fanfiction.net!


	3. Kim Makes A New Friend

A Phantom Awaits You by Flashbeagle

Chapter Three: Kim Makes A New Friend

Disclaimer: Kim is my intellectual property, as are her interns and her world. Ravenswood Manor characters are elaborations of characters from the Phantom Manor ride, thought up by some brilliant Imagineers!

I was sort of distracted as I walked down a marble staircase, so I didn't notice when my foot got caught on something and I crashed to the ground.

"Ouch." I whined.

"Miss! Miss! Are you okay?" An unfamiliar voice asked.

"Oh, yeah, um, I'm fine." I mumbled. Someone offered me their hand and pulled me up.

I looked into the blue-green eyes of a rather cute guy. He was tall- as tall or taller than my 6'2 brother-, had sandy, short light blond hair, and the one of the nicest smiles I had ever seen. All his teeth were straight and white, except for one on the bottom that was slightly crooked. But there was something strange about him. Something I couldn't quite figure out…he had sort of an aura to him…and was wearing old fashioned cowboy-type clothes…

It hit me right then.

"You're a ghost, aren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am." He seemed sort of young and naïve, and looked to be maybe a few years younger than me.

I nodded. "Right. Um, I'm Kim Fox."

"My name is Lawrence." He said. "Lawrence James. Nice to meet you, Miss Fox."

"Just call me Kim." I said. Then I remembered him. "Lawrence James- you're the guy who got hung by the cackling specter in the portrait gallery!"

This could be…good for my article.

Lawrence hung his head. "Um, yes, Miss Kim. That's me."

"Oh, um, gee, sorry. I didn't want to make you feel…um…weird."

"No, Miss Kim. That's okay." Lawrence smiled slightly.

There was a pause.

"Okay, this is weird." I said.

Lawrence nodded. "Yes, um, I don't really have many run ins with live people. I normally stay away from them."

"I wish I could say the same for ghosts. Well, actually, it hasn't happened in a few months but trust me, what happened then was really…really…intense, I guess you could say."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Another awkward pause. Okay, time to do the journalist thing.

"Um, Lawrence, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure thing, Miss Kim."

"What's up with your girlfriend wandering around the house singing all the time?"

"Girlfriend? Oh, Melanie." Lawrence smiled sadly. "She's under the control of the Phantom. Just like all the other ghosts here."

"Phantom?" I echoed. "What Phantom?"

Lawrence's face turned grim. "The ghost who murdered me."

"So, he's the cackling specter in all those stories?"

"Yes, Miss."

"Who is he?"

"I don't know. I don't know why he haunts this place. I don't know why he killed me." Lawrence said, shaking his head.

"Whoa, um, I'm sorry." This is actually getting interesting.

Lawrence smiled sadly. "I'm okay. Well, as okay as a dead person can be."

Lawrence and I then really started to talk. I found out that he was an April baby like me- I'm April 3, 1979; he's April 6, 1840- like me, he loves to write- and like me, he had an intolerably perfect older brother; his was named Freddie and worked as a banker in Boston; mine is named David and runs his own business in New York City- and. Lawrence and I got into a pretty deep conversation about that whole perfect older brother thing.

"And my parents just can't get enough of him. He was captain of the football and baseball teams his senior year of high school, and was valedictorian and class treasurer." I said. "And then he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and opened his own business and goes to church every Sunday and is the perfect father-to-be as well as the perfect son and the perfect brother…"

Lawrence nodded. "Yeah. My brother Freddie was like that. He was a total do-gooder, and always made me feel inferior, like I wasn't good enough for my parents or something."

"Same here!" I exclaimed. "But my parents refer to me as their little baby girl, and treat me like that. They refuse to let me grow up! They always make me feel like I should still be watching Sesame Street and wearing diapers and sucking my thumb."

"Are you the youngest too?"

"Well, I'm the 2nd child of 2 kids, so yeah."

"I'm the youngest too, 'cept I'm the youngest of five. There was Minnie, Daisy, Freddie, Bertha, and me." Lawrence said. "My sisters were all okay. It was just that my parents always compared me to Freddie, and no matter what, I could never be like him. I guess my parents always saw me as just a kid."

"A pain I know all too well." I sympathized.

After that, we actually had a deep talk about ghost-human relations, as well as a discussion on the inner workings of the psyches of ghosts.

"I mean, what is up with you ghosts and being all depressed all the time?"

"Well, to be quite honest, Miss Kim, a lot of us died in pretty nasty manners. A lot of us never got to do a lot of things we wanted."

"Well, yeah, that's bad and all, but what about the ones out in the graveyard who sing that song all the time, not the singing busts but all the other ones, or those guys who look like they're hitchhiking? They don't seem so depressed!"

Lawrence looked at me confusedly. "What are you talking about?"

I blinked. "Oh wait, never mind. That was another haunted mansion." This is so freaky. I'm having a conversation with a ghost and I'm not shivering or trembling or worrying for my life or trying to run away or, well, scared. Sure, it's weird, but it's also kind of nice. Knowing that foolish mortals and non-mortals can co-exist in piece.

"Another haunted mansion?" Lawrence asked me. Suddenly he looked really intrigued. "Do you have any good ghost stories to tell?"

I nodded. "I guess so. Yeah, it's interesting, but I don't really like to-"

"Would you mind telling it to me? I love a good ghost story!"

That was so ironically funny.

I snickered. "Hey, I'm the journalist. I'll ask the questions here." I said good- naturedly.

Lawrence sort of laughed. There was something about Lawrence that instantly made me like him. It was sort of innocence and sense of humor…I really can't describe it. Remember when I was at Gracey Manor and said that there was something really odd about Edward Gracey and Ramsley that really creeped me out that I couldn't quite put my finger on? Like that except for not creepy.

"Come on! Tell me!" Lawrence asked.

I shrugged and gave in. "Once upon a time, in a far away land called New Orleans, a pretty young reporter arrived at a gigantic haunted mansion called Gracey Manor. As she walked in the cavernous doors of the manor, she felt strangely lightheaded. Then, a creepy pale butler named Ramsley approached her, and she noticed how oddly the butler was staring at her…like he'd just seen a ghost."

"Ooh, this sounds interesting!"

So I continued telling the story. "…She pushed back the gauzy curtain, and revealed an old portrait of a young woman with dark hair. But it wasn't just any young woman with dark hair…the woman in the portrait looked exactly like the reporter!"

"Whoa!"

"…and then, the reporter's best friend insisted that the broken singing bust looked like the guy who sang 'You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch', not Walt Disney."

Lawrence blinked. "That poor reporter girl!"

"And do you know who that 'reporter girl' is?"

He shook his head. "No."

"Me."

"You?"

"Yep. Me."

"You mean…all that actually happened to you?"

"Yup."

"Whoa! Miss Kim! You must have been…wow, you must have been so afraid!"

"Afraid's an understatement. But hey, I'm alive, so that's all that matters."

Lawrence looked at me strangely. "Well, Miss Kim, I've never met the possible reincarnation of a Southern belle before."

"_I've_ never met a murdered groom before. Though, as you know from my story, I have met a murdered bride."

"What happened to her? The murdered bride, I mean."

"Oh, Emily? Well, Emily was really rich, and Master Gracey's father, George Gracey, wanted to marry her to get her money. But anyway, Madame Leota, the disembodied head who told the reporter, I mean, _me_, about what happened to Katherine, was in love with George, so she murdered Emily on her wedding night by locking her in a trunk."

"That's terrible." Lawrence said.

"Yup." I agreed.

He suddenly looked really, really sad.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"I, well, I was just remembering things." He sighed. Oh, man, I've never seen a ghost look so sad…and that is saying a LOT.

"Lawrence?"

"Yes, Miss Kim?"

"Do you mind telling me what happened? I mean, between you and Melanie and leading up to…" I stopped and rephrased. "Do you mind telling me the whole story?"

"I don't know, Miss Kim."

"Hey, I told you the sordid tale of me nearly being killed so I could spend eternity with the ghost of a man who was married to a woman who looked exactly like me."

__

Lawrence nodded. "It's just…hard to say."

"I know. I mean, you're the first person I've told about the whole ordeal at Gracey Manor. The only other person who knows is my best friend Ben, and that's only because he was there!"

He hung his head.

"Look, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. I know how hard it is to tell someone a story like that! Sorry for pressuring you, it's just-"

"No, it's okay, Miss Kim. I'll tell you."

"No, really, it's okay."

"No," Lawrence said, looking up at me with his big blue eyes that really did make him look like a little kid. "I want to."


	4. Kim and MORE Haunted History

A Phantom Awaits You by Flashbeagle

Chapter Four: Kim and MORE Haunted History

"Melanie and I met in 1857." Lawrence started. "I was working on her father's railroad, and I saw her one day and just sort of fell in love with her. Melanie was so beautiful, like an angel. Eventually I worked up the courage to start talking to her, and she was just, she was just wonderful." He sighed. He was smiling and he looked so lovesick. You can tell he was totally crazy about Melanie.

"We had a lot in common, and we started to talk all the time. Then, one day she kissed me, and it was then that I knew our love was true. I started to court her, and Melanie told me that I was the only man she'd ever love, and that she wanted to be my wife. So I proposed to her, and when she accepted, oh wow, I had never been happier. Melanie was so proud, and she was bragging to everyone about our engagement. It seemed like everyone was happy for us, except-"

"Melanie's parents?" I filled in.

Lawrence nodded. "Mr. and Mrs. Ravenswood were both from old money families, and Mr. Ravenswood had become even richer once he started his railroad company. My family was as poor as dirt, and the Ravenswoods thought that I wasn't good enough for Melanie. They wanted her to marry some stuffed shirt guy who wanted to be the mayor who was equally as rich as the Ravenswoods. And boy, did they let me know that."

"Ugh. How rude."

"Melanie was nothing like them, though. She was so warm and accepting and understanding. She was so kind and so sweet. When I told the Ravenswoods that we were planning on moving to California, they were furious. They accused me of trying to take their daughter away from them, but that wasn't it at all! Melanie and I were both big dreamers. We wanted to get away from Nevada. We wanted to try out our luck with the gold industry. Melanie overheard them yelling at me, and she burst into tears and locked herself in her room, and she refused to come out until her parents agreed to accept me as her future husband and until they apologized to me. It was then that Mr. and Mrs. Ravenswood realized that Melanie and I were truly in love, and then they both gave their blessing to our engagement. I still felt some disliking from them, but they accepted that Melanie loved me, and that was all that mattered. Then, there was the earthquake."

I nodded. "The one that killed Henry and Martha Ravenswood?"

"Yes. It was just 6 days before the wedding, which was originally scheduled for June 21, the first day of summer. Melanie and I were at my parents' house at the time, and though my parents' house was badly damaged, we all survived. The Ravenswoods had thrown a party for all their friends when the earthquake struck. All of them were in the ballroom at the time, and all of them were killed. The whole situation destroyed Melanie. We called off the wedding, and Melanie spent a lot of her father's money restoring the house and she paid for the funerals of everyone killed by the earthquake. She took it so hard. For months, she would start crying at any random moment. I hated seeing her so sad, but I understood why. I told Melanie that if she still wanted to get married, I'd wait as long as she needed. In August, she told me that she wanted to get married in October, so we set the date for October 18, which was Melanie's birthday. We went up to California to see where we were going to live, and there she told me that she wanted to come back to her parents' house every summer and for holidays. And then, before we knew it, it was time for the wedding." Lawrence swallowed. I noticed that there were tears in his eyes.

"I, I got to the Manor early that day. Melanie at first didn't want to get married there, since that was where her parents died, but she decided to have the wedding at the Manor because that's what her parents had wanted. I got dressed and then I went into the portrait gallery. I started looking at the pictures of Melanie, and suddenly, all the lights went off. I looked up, and I saw, I saw a figure holding a noose. I heard a horrible noise, which I realized was evil laughter. And then, before I knew it, the noose was around my neck and I couldn't breathe. And all I could think about was Melanie, and that we'd never get married and that she'd just be put through more pain and she'd think that I killed myself and didn't love her and…"

I had tears in my eyes. That's the saddest thing I've ever heard! I put a sympathetic hand on Lawrence's shoulder, before I gave him a big hug.

"Guests started arriving, but no one noticed me because whoever killed me, the Phantom, I guess, had pulled up my body." He blinked before he spoke again. "I don't really remember the wedding. I don't know what happened. For some reason, I couldn't leave that room. It was like that for the longest time. I never even saw Melanie! One day, Melanie's aunt and uncle came to see her, and they entered the portrait gallery where I was killed, and the Phantom dropped my body, with the noose still around my neck, down on them, and of course, they ran out of the house in terror. But right after that, I finally saw Melanie. She walked through the portrait gallery, and I tried calling out to her, but she didn't even hear me. Melanie just kept on walking through, singing to herself. I followed her out of the gallery to the windows up front, and she told herself, and I even remember her exact words, 'Lawrence is coming home to me. He's coming. I know it.' I tried to call out to her to tell her that I was there, right beside her, but Melanie couldn't hear me. Then, I heard a horrible voice from somewhere above my head. It said, 'She is mine, Mr. James. Not yours.' The voice cackled, and from then on, it's been, well, it's pretty much been the same. Even after Melanie's death, when she began to haunt this house as well, I couldn't come into contact with her, and every time I have tried, the Phantom tells me the same thing that he did that first time."

"What do you think of the tourists?" I asked.

Lawrence shrugged. "I don't care, Miss Kim. I sort of like them, to tell you the truth. I stay away from them because the one time they saw me, the people ran out screaming."

"Does that happen a lot? People running out screaming?"

"Yes, ma'am. It has happened even more recently, because the Phantom hates them. He's been trying to scare them off, and he's been appearing to the guests himself."

"So, he's the skeleton-like specter out in the graveyard?" I asked.

"Yes. That's him. The graveyard's called Boot Hill, and as a matter of fact, Melanie's grandfather, Ezekiel Ravenswood, was the one who commissioned it to be built. He was Thunder Mesa's first mayor, you know."

I nodded, because I already knew that. This sordid little tale has turned into a classic question and answer session, but that's okay, because I have to know exactly what happened here. I have to know why the Phantom killed Lawrence. It's sort of like how, once I discovered that Katherine Gracey was the woman who looked exactly like me, I had to know more about her. I don't know what it is…when I have a burning question, I **_have _**to get the answer. Maybe I should've been a detective instead of a travel reporter. Detective Kimberly Fox…Detective Fox…ooh! I like that!

"Why is Thunder Mesa part of Frontier?"

"Frontier and Thunder Mesa were originally two different towns, but before 1900, Thunder Mesa was completely deserted, so as Frontier grew, it gradually encompassed Thunder Mesa, and Frontier's leaders declared it a historical landmark area."

"Why is it deserted?"

"Don't know. I've been stuck here for the past 144 years. The only reason I know about Thunder Mesa becoming a part of Frontier is because I hear it all the time when the visitors are here. I don't think anyone knows why the town is deserted. I think it has something to do with the Phantom, Miss Kim."

"Wouldn't doubt it." I said. Hmm…do I have any more burning questions? Oh, wait, yeah…

"What does Non Omiar Morry mean?"

"What? Oh, Non Omnis Moriar." Lawrence said. "It's Latin for 'I will not die completely.' Mr. Ravenswood was very paranoid about death, and he always talked about how he wanted to be immortal, so he made it into the family's motto."

Something clicked in my head.

"Hey, Larry- I can call you Larry, can't I?"

"Certainly, Miss Kim."

"Larry, I think I may have a candidate for who the Phantom is."

"Who?"

"Mr. Ravenswood."

"_Mr. Ravenswood?_" Lawrence repeated incredulously.

"Larry, think about it! He's got this insane fear of dying, and he said that thing about not dying completely. So he dies unexpectedly, and becomes a ghost so he can stick around forever. As the wedding date draws nearer, Mr. Ravenswood realizes that you're going to take his precious baby girl away to California, and that since he's confined to the Manor, he's never going to see her again because he never knew that she wanted to come back during the summers and on weekends and on vacation and stuff. So he decides to kill you so you and Melanie can't get married and so she won't leave Thunder Mesa! And to make sure she never even tries to leave, he makes her think that one day you'll come back to her and marry her, so she forever stays in the Manor waiting for you so she won't miss you in case you come back. And the thing about her not belonging to you was just him gloating because you didn't get her after all!" I blurted. "Did that make sense?"

Lawrence paused for a long time. "Yes, yes it did. You make a good argument, Miss Kim. It…it sounds very likely."

"See?"

"But Mrs. Ravenswood was just as overly protective of Melanie as her husband was. Do you think she could be haunting this house along with her husband?"

"I don't see why not. There can be a Phantom and a, um, Phantomette, I guess."

"Miss Kim, this is so strange. I know Mr. and Mrs. Ravenswood disliked me, but I can't see them hating me enough to kill me."

"I know it sounds weird, but hey, I knew that Edward Gracey liked me, but I couldn't have seen him trying to kill me because I'm supposedly his dead wife's reincarnation either."

Lawrence nodded. "Guess you're right, Miss Kim."

Author's Notes: Boy this chapter is a lot shorter than I thought it would be. As always, thanks to the reviewers and anyone else who read it.


	5. Kim, Larry, and the Stretching Portraits

A Phantom Awaits You by Flashbeagle

Chapter Five: Kim, Larry, and the Stretching Portraits

I glanced down at my watch. A hell of a lot of time had passed. When I started talking to Lawrence it was 12:50. It was now 3:30, and I was starving.

"Hey, Larry, if you don't mind, I'm gonna leave for a little while."

"Why?"

"I'm really hungry, but I swear I'll come right back."

"Okay. See you then, Miss Kim."

I dashed out of the parlor, where Lawrence and I had been sitting, and into the portrait gallery, where I ran into Ms. Meyers.

"Miss Fox! How's your research going?" She asked.

"Research? Oh, yeah, um, great!" I said, putting on a smile. "I lost track of time because I was…" Having an in-depth conversation with a dead guy. "Writing my article."

"Well, good. I'm very interested to see how the article's going to turn out." Ms. Meyers said. "See you tomorrow, Ms. Fox."

"Oh, well, um, actually, I'm going to be back in a little bit. I'm just gonna take a break to eat. I'm really interested in finishing up the rough draft of my article."

"Wow. You're expedient."

Me? Expedient? I should've rolled over on the floor laughing. Well, I can work fast when I want to…It's just that I never really feel like working fast. I did earlier today, but then I met Lawrence and completely got distracted.

"Yeah. Just got a drive for excellence!" I lied.

"Good for you! I'll see you when you get back. Just to let you know, the evening tours will begin at 5 o'clock."

"Yeah. See ya, Ms. Meyers."

"Bye, Ms. Fox."

I kept replaying my whole encounter with Lawrence while I ate. I've got to find out what the Phantom did to Melanie. I've got to do something. What I'd do I'm unsure of, but I've got to help Lawrence. I've got to.

I dashed back to the Manor as quickly as I could. Ms. Meyers and her tour group were out on Boot Hill, so I didn't have to worry about them catching Lawrence and me.

Lawrence was waiting for me by the grand staircase.

"Welcome back, Miss Kim." He said.

"Thanks!" I smiled. "Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"No, Miss Kim. Well, one lady on the tour had…interesting hair."

"What'd it look like?" I asked.

"It was…well…it was blue!"

"Blue?" I laughed.

"Yes, Miss Kim, blue! A very bright blue! And she was wearing a shirt with a skull and bones sign on it! Like one you'd see from a group of pirates." He said the pirates thing very darkly, the way a little kid talks about someone saying the word "butt."

I laughed. "Anyway, Larry, when I was gone, I realized something."

"What's that, Miss Kim?"

"Larry, I really, really want to help you."

"Miss Kim, I know that."

"No, I mean. Larry, I'm gonna help you. We're gonna find the Phantom and we're going to free Melanie."

"But how?" Lawrence looked confused.

"I don't know. But we're gonna do it, Larry!"

Right after that assertive declaration of mine, I heard a strange sound, like someone singing.

"Did you hear that?" I whispered.

I noticed that Lawrence had a far off look in his eyes. "That's Melanie." He said really softly.

I turned around and followed the voice.

"Miss Kim! Miss Kim!" Lawrence called, and then he dashed after me.

I pushed past some doors and found myself in a grand ballroom- the one with decaying wedding decorations everywhere. I took in a sharp breath. There were ghostly dancing couples everywhere, who just kept on dancing. They never even noticed that I was there. The singing got louder and louder. I looked up, and standing on another staircase, was Melanie Ravenswood. But she looked so different from when I first saw her! Her skin was wrinkled and her hair had streaks of gray. Melanie stared straight ahead, and kept on singing.

"Oh, Melanie." Lawrence whispered, all lovelorn and sad.

"Oh my God!" I shouted. Behind Melanie was a shadowy figure, with bony hands stretching out towards her. The figure behind Melanie started cackling wildly. My blood ran cold. My heart started pounding.

"It's him." Lawrence said. "It's the Phantom."

"Oh my God!" I shouted again.

Suddenly, the ballroom began to shake, and the Phantom's cackling got even louder.

Oh God. Oh God. I started to hyperventilate. This is freaky. This is BEYOND freaky. This is downright terrifying!

Suddenly, the ground behind me threw me up in the air.

"Miss KIM!" Lawrence shouted. He ghost-materialized right under me and caught me. "We gotta get out of here!"

"My thoughts exactly!" I exclaimed. He put me back on the ground and I dashed out of the ballroom, stopping at the grand staircase to catch my breath. Lawrence materialized right next to me.

"Oh, Miss Kim, are you okay?" He asked, all genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, um, I'm fine. A little shaken up and have had the hell scared out of me, but okay."

I left a few minutes later, but I promised Lawrence that I'd come back. After all, have I ever let a little freaky encounter with the supernatural stop me from helping out a friend?

Oh, wait. Yeah. Never mind. I've never been in that situation before. I've had to have a friend help me, though.

I couldn't sleep all night. I kept tossing and turning and all that other stuff I do when I can't sleep. I kept thinking about that horrible cackling, and meeting a ghost who didn't scare the living hell out of me, and about what could be wrong with Melanie.

I've had some pretty weird days this year, and this one ranks pretty high up with them. I think I'll place it below the day I believed I was Katherine and nearly died and above the one where I snooped around Gracey Manor and saw those singing busts.

I got to Ravenswood Manor pretty early the next day. Ms. Meyers greeted me at the door, and said that if I needed any help, she'd be either in her office or doing tours. I smiled and nodded, and went to go find Lawrence. I found him lingering around a room upstairs. He didn't notice me when I walked in the room.

"Larry?" I asked.

"Hello, Miss Kim." Lawrence said, smiling at me slightly sadly.

"You okay?" I asked.

He sighed. "I'm fine. Just reminiscing."

I totally feel for him. Poor guy!

We walked around the Manor for a while, and we found ourselves in the portrait gallery.

Lawrence stared longingly at one of the portraits. "She's so beautiful."

"Were a lot of other guys in love with her?" I asked.

"Yes. But she only wanted me." Lawrence smiled really brilliantly at that moment.

Suddenly, we heard a slamming noise. We both looked around the room, and then I noticed something really, really weird…

The door was gone!

Lawrence and I looked at each other.

"What happened to the door?" He asked.

The air was strangely heavy, and I could hear my heart pounding. It got very, very cold in the room. The lights began to flicker, and suddenly, I realized something…

"We're sinking!" I shouted. "We're sinking!"

It was so, so creepy. We were falling…but not falling…it was sort of like being stuck in an elevator.

"Oh, Miss, Kim, look at the pictures!" Lawrence shouted.

"Oh, God!" I said. All of the pictures of Melanie were slowly stretching out. One I was facing showed her boat going down a waterfall, and the other showed a group of scary looking ants intruding in on her picnic. The second wasn't really scary, but it sure was freaky looking.

"Miss Kim! Look over here!" Lawrence shouted.

I spun around quickly, but at that moment all the candles blew out, and a horrible cackling sound started. I shivered and a chill ran down my spine. The laughter sounded like pure evil. Suddenly, from somewhere up above, a single light flickered on, illuminating Lawrence's dangling skeleton. I could also see a shadowy figure up there…holding the noose. It looked down at us, and I could see its face.

Its face was a skull with glowing eyes.

I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Oh my God!" I yelled. I put my hands over my nose and started to hyperventilate.

"It's the Phantom!" Lawrence exclaimed.

The Phantom just kept on cackling and let the noose go.

I screamed again. The thing was heading right for me!

"Miss Kim!" Lawrence shouted. He grabbed my arm and pulled me away.

The corpse landed with a dull thud, and suddenly all the candles lit up again. The Phantom was gone, and all the pictures had returned to normal.

"Well," Lawrence started after a pause, "It's not every day your own dead body falls down on you."

I caught my breath. "Falls on YOU? Hello, that thing was falling down on me!"

Lawrence blinked. "Well, um, you know what I mean, Miss Kim."

I noticed that he looked sort of ashen.

"You okay?" I asked.

"I'm alright, I guess. It's just…that was pretty much how my death happened, Miss Kim."

"Oh, right."

I paused for a moment. "Hey, Larry?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you want me to look over there? You know, before the lights went out."

"It was about the picture of Melanie in the garden! When it stretched out, you could see a skeleton rising out of a grave. But it wasn't just any skeleton, it was the Phantom! I wanted you to look 'cause I thought I saw a name on the tombstone."

I blinked. "We've got to get the pictures to stretch again."

"How?" Lawrence asked me.

"I…I don't know!"

End Notes: Okay, yes, I used the Stretching Gallery as a device in When You Hear the Knell of a Requiem Bell, but I think it works well here too.

I am extremely busy at the moment, so I cannot promise you that the next chapter of this story will be updated in a week, but I'll try to get it up.

Thanks to any and all reviewers!


	6. Kim, Larry, Nate and Lotte

A Phantom Awaits You

Chapter Six: Kim, Larry, Nate, and Lotte

Disclaimer: Don't own Phantom Manor, blah, blah, blah…

            "Ms. Fox?" A voice I recognized as Ms. Meyers's called.

            "Larry, you better hide!" I whispered to him.

            Lawrence nodded. "Good idea." He then dematerialized right before my eyes.

            I blinked. That is so damn creepy. "I'm in the portrait gallery, Ms. Meyers!" I shouted.

            A few moments later, Ms. Meters appeared through the doorway that had been MIA only a few minutes ago. "Ms. Fox, you have some visitors."

            "Visitors?" I chirped.

            "Their names are Charlotte O'Connell and Nathan Evans."

            I was silent for a moment. Hmm…Those names don't ring a bell…oh, wait, right.

            "They're my interns." I laughed sheepishly. Duh. "My boss told me about hem yesterday."

            Ms. Meyers nodded. "Okay. I'll show them in."

            I looked around the room. "Larry? Larry? You still here?"

            Lawrence re-materialized under the picture of Melanie in the boat. "I'm here, Miss Kim."

            "Larry, you may want to stay de-materialized for awhile. I've got these interns to deal with and-"

            "Hi, um, Ms. Fox? A young, unfamiliar voice said.

            I turned around to face two teenagers who were walking through the doorway. "Yup. That's me!" I said cheerily. "You must be Charlotte and Nathan. I'm Kim Fox." No duh I'm Kim Fox. They already knew that. I am such a ditz.

            Charlotte was really pretty, much shorter than me, had long, wavy light brown hair with really chunky blonde highlights, the kind I've been too chicken to get, and had hazel eyes. Nathan was pretty cute for a teenager. He had floppy brown hair, tanned skin, and brown eyes.

            "Hi!" Charlotte said brightly. "Charlotte O'Connell. Just call me Lotte."

            "Hey." Nathan smiled. "Nathan Evans. Just…call me Nate."

            I shook their hands. "Nice to meet you two."

            I noticed Lotte smiling towards the back of the room. "Who's that?" She questioned.

            "Who's who?" I asked.

            "That guy standing behind you!" Lotte laughed.

            I turned around. Lawrence hadn't de-materialized after all!

            "Oh, um, this is Lawrence James." I stumbled.

            "Nice to meet you." Lawrence smiled.

            "Hi! I'm Lotte!" Lotte said, shaking Lawrence's hand enthusiastically and shooting him a toothy smile.

            Lawrence smiled sheepishly.

            "And I'm Nate." Nate said quickly, also holding his hand out to Lawrence.

            "Nice to meet you, Nate." Lawrence responded.

            "Yeah." Nate said as he cast a funny look in Lotte's direction. He looks sort of jealous and…

            Oh…I get it now! Nate likes her!

            "Are you a reporter too?" Lotte asked Lawrence.

            "Well, um, no, actually. I used to be a railroad worker."

            "How fascinating!" Lotte exclaimed.

            "How fascinating!" Nate mocked in a falsetto voice.

            Lotte shot him an annoyed look.

            "What are you going now, Lawrence?" She continued.

            "Well, actually, I'm a ghost."

            I slapped my hand to my forehead. "Smooth move, Larry." I said flatly. Well, at least he's being honest…

            Lotte laughed. "You're joking, right?"

            "No, Miss Lotte. I am a ghost."

            "Lawrence, I wasn't born yesterday." Lotte said, and she said that as if she really did think he was joking.

            "I was." Nate said. "See, yesterday was my birthday and-"

            "You'll have to excuse him." Lotte cut him off. "As a baby, he was repeatedly dropped on his head."

            "I was not!" Nate protested.

            "Well, it sure seems like it." Lotte said. "Anyway, Lawrence, stop joking!"

            "I'm not joking, Miss Lotte." Lawrence insisted.

            I decided to step in at that moment. "He's not joking, Lotte."

            "What?"

            I took in a deep breath. "Now, I know this sounds really, really, really exceedingly freaky, but Larry really is a ghost." I turned to look at him. "Prove it."

            "What?"

            "Do the disappearing thing!"

            "Huh?"

            "The disappearing thing you were supposed to have done when Nate and Lotte got here!" I shouted.

            "Oh, um, okay." Lawrence said, slightly taken back. I hadn't realized that I had sounded so mean.

            "Oh, sorry, Larry. I didn't mean to be so, uh, _mean_." I laughed.

            "It's okay, Miss Kim." Lawrence smiled, before he disappeared and reappeared.

            "Whoa!" Nate and Lotte both exclaimed. They both got really wide-eyed and sort of pale.

            "That's SFX, right?" Lotte asked.

            "SF what?" Lawrence echoed.

            "You really are a ghost." Nate breathed.

            "No way!" Lotte exclaimed. "There's got…there's got to be some other…Oh my God!"

            "But don't worry!" I burst in. "He's a nice ghost! He's not one of the ones who goes around killing people like the Phantom." I blabbed.

            Nate and Lotte looked up sharply.

            "Phantom? Like in Phantom of the Opera?" Lotte asked, still totally shocked from the finding out that Larry is a ghost.

            "Well, now that I think about it, yeah, sort of." I said. "But um, sort of not."

            "Wait- he goes around killing people?" Nate exclaimed.

            So Lawrence and I told Nate and Lotte the whole story, right up to the stretching portraits from a few minutes ago and our theories about the Phantom being Mr. Ravenswood.

            When we finished, my new interns were giving us very strange looks.

            "You don't believe a word we just said, do you?" I said.

            "I believe it." Nate nodded solemnly.

            "Well, it's kind of hard to believe." Lotte said, sounding sad. I guess she's crushed because Lawrence is taken and hopelessly devoted to Melanie. You should've seen how her face fell when she first heard that Lawrence was taken. And you also should've seen how relieved Nate looked.

            "Well, as hard as this is to believe, this kind of thing happens quite a bit. Miss Kim, tell them the story you told me about-"

            "NO." I cut him off.

            "Oh, okay." Lawrence shrugged.

            "What? What story? Is it a ghost story? I love ghost stories!" Nate said eagerly, sounding almost exactly like Lawrence did yesterday when he wanted me to tell him my story.

            Lotte stared at Nate incredulously. "How can you be so…so…_normal_ right now? Didn't you just listen to what Lawrence and Ms. Fox were saying?"

            "Yeah, Lotte, matter of fact, I _was _listening. But I think it's kind of cool, like being trapped in a movie like The Mummy or something. Lawrence, you should totally go to Hollywood producers and sell them your story because-"

            "Nate, don't you have to go be stupid somewhere else?" Lotte snapped.

            "Lotte, don't you have to go be _bitchy_ somewhere else?" Nate fired back.

            Lotte looked like she was going to verbally barrage him, so I stepped in and said, "Whoa, hey, calm down!"

            "But Ms. Fox-" Lotte started.

            "Don't call me Ms. Fox. Just call me Kimberly or Kim or K.F."

            "K.F.?" Nate asked.

            "You know that show Kim Possible? Ron, her best friend, calls Kim K.P., and one day, when my best friend and I were watching the show with his 8 year old niece, he heard that and started calling me K.F., in addition to Kim Impossible."

            "Kim Impossible?" Nate laughed. "That's good! Are you impossible?"

            "My mother seems to think so."

            Lotte looked weirded out. "This is crazy."

            "Yeah, yeah, it's crazy." I agreed. "It's more than crazy. It's demented."

            "Anyway, now Miss Kim and I want to find out how the Phantom's controlling Melanie. I have to know. I mean, for so many years, she's been lost to me, and I, I, I just want to be with her again."

            The expression on Lotte's face went from confusion to sympathy. "Oh, wow, Lawrence. I'm so sorry." She said softly.

            "It's okay, Miss Lotte." Lawrence smiled weakly.

            "We can help you! Nate and I can help you and Ms. F-er, Kim."

            "Cool!" Nate said. "I've always wanted to be a Ghostbuster!"

            "Nate, get real." Lotte said.

            "Hey, five minutes ago you were all, 'this is so unbelievable' and now you're all, 'Oh I want to help you rescue your dead girlfriend'." Nate interjected. "Whoa, what is it with dead guys and their dead girlfriends? No offense, Larry."

            "None taken, Mr. Nate. At least I'm not trying to kill anyone because they're potentially my love's reincarnation, right, Miss Kim?" Lawrence grinned.

            "Right." I said sharply while shooting Lawrence a look I hoped said, "Shut the hell up, dead boy."

            Lawrence appeared to get the message.

            "Yeah, that happens a lot in the movies, doesn't it?" Nate commented.

            Neither Nate nor Lotte seemed to realize that Lawrence died long before movies were invented.

            I nodded. "Yeah, it does."

            "I mean, it sort of happened in The Mummy, but it didn't really because Imhotep never really thought Evie was Anuck- Anack- um, whatever her name was. He just wanted to use her as a human sacrifice to bring his girlfriend back. But still, I mean, dead guy and dead girlfriend!" Nate rattled.

            "Nate, your stupidity astounds me." Lotte rolled her eyes.

            "Lotte, your **_bitchiness _**astounds me." Nate shot back.

            "Whoa, hey, let's not get argumentative." I broke in.

            Lotte nodded. "Kim's right. We've gotta concentrate on helping Lawrence."

            "Yeah." I nodded.

            "So, um, well, what are we gonna do?" Nate asked.

            "Well, see, that's the problem." I said. "Larry and I don't really know."

Again, I'm sorry this chapter was late!!!!! I'm swamped with work, and tons of other stuff. I'll try to get Ch. 7 up by Tuesday, but I'm not making any promises.


	7. Kim and Some Interesting Stuff

A Phantom Awaits You by Flashbeagle

Chapter Seven: Kim and Some Interesting Stuff

"So…where should we start?" Lotte asked.

            "I wish I knew." I muttered.

            "Well, what we could do is…um, no, never mind." Nate started.

            "Never mind what?" Lawrence asked.

            "Well, I was just gonna say let's walk around and try to see if we see anything, but that's kind of obvious…" Nate scratched the side of his head.

            "We **could** look for stuff." I said. "I mean, I know it's nothing, but it's a start."

            Lawrence nodded. "Yeah."

            "So, um, where do we start?" Lotte asked.

            "Good question." I said.

            "And what would we be looking for?" Lotte continued.

            "I have no idea." I responded.

            "Well," Lawrence spoke up. "Yesterday, Miss Kim and I saw Melanie in the ballroom. Maybe we could look there."

            "It's a start." Lotte reasoned. She caught my gaze and we both shared a laugh about overusing the word "start".

            Looking around the ballroom proved pretty pointless. Why is it that when you want to find a ghost you can't? But when you want them to stay far away, they're everywhere?

            We left the ballroom and searched through the library, Melanie's room, and the portrait gallery. As we looked at the paintings, Lotte said something.

            "How sure are you that Melanie's father is the Phantom?"

            "Well, Miss Lotte, we're not. Sure, I mean." Lawrence shrugged. "But it makes sense! It really makes sense!"

            "Do you have any other suspects?" Lotte asked.

            Whoa. I feel like a character in a Mary Higgins Clark mystery novel or something, like Lotte's a policewoman and I'm a witness to a brutal murder.

            "Well, um…I don't know. Larry? You got any suspects?" I asked.

            "Well…" Lawrence said.

            "Think Larry!" I encouraged. "Who would want to dangle her in front of you like that?"

            "Well, I don't know." Lawrence shook his head.

            "Come on!" Lotte said. "There's got to be someone."

            "A lot of other men wanted to marry Melanie. Do you think it's one of them?" I asked.

            "Could be. It's just that none of them seemed to care about who she was inside. All they cared about was that she was pretty and rich. I didn't- I don't –think any of them were THAT concerned with her."

            "Did any of them dislike you?" Lotte questioned.

            "I don't think **any** of them liked me at all. I know it's hard for you to believe, and it's hard for me to believe too, but the only person I can see doing this is Mr. Ravenswood. It makes perfect sense. This was his house, he had an insane fear of dying, and he thought I was going to take Melanie away forever." He shrugged. "I don't know what else to think."

            There was a period of silence. Been a lot of those lately.

            "Okay, I know this will sound weird, but I really hope that the Phantom is Mr. Ravenswood." I spoke up.

            Lotte looked at me strangely. "Why?"

            "Because it'll mean I'm finally right about something."

            Lotte shook her head. "I just don't know, Kim. I just don't know."

            "Well, there's that theory Larry and I had about the Phantomette."

            "Phantomette?" Nate repeated.

            "Well, see if both Mr. and Mrs. Ravenswood haunted the house, we figured they could be the Phantom and Phantomette. Or Phantoma."

            Lotte snickered. "You're crazy, Kim!"

            "Crazy like a fox." I smiled.

            Lotte laughed.

            Nate looked confused. "What?"

            "Ugh." She groaned. "Crazy like a fox. Her last name is Fox!"

            "Oh, yeah!" Nate laughed, slightly sheepishly. "I get it now!"

            "Idiot." Lotte muttered under her breath.

            "So, um, what're we gonna do now?" I asked, trying to avoid another Nate-Lotte argument.

            "Let's split up." Nate suggested. "And look!"

            "For what?" Lawrence asked.

            "Um, I don't know." Nate said. "Clues?"

            "One of the Hardy Boys you ain't." Lotte muttered.

            "Who?" Nate asked.

            "Oh-kay. I'll go to Boot Hill, the cemetery. Nate, you take the ballroom and look through it again. Kim, you take the parlor and Lotte, go upstairs." Lawrence said diplomatically.

            "Why do I have to go upstairs by myself?" Lotte asked.

            "Because nobody wants you around." Nate said.

            "Whoa, that was cold, Nate." I said.

            "Jackass." Lotte cursed.

            "Hey, hey!" Lawrence said. "Come on you two! Just TRY to get along!"

            "Lotte, I'll go upstairs with you." I volunteered.

            "Thank you!" She said.

            Lotte and I dashed upstairs, and started searching rooms for anything suspicious-looking. We weren't very successful.

            "Stupid Nate." She scoffed. "I don't know, look for clues?" She mocked.

            "He likes you, you know."

****

            "What?" Lotte looked shocked.

            "Nate likes you."

            "Kim, are you crazy? Nate hates me!"

            "Oh no, he doesn't. Well, it possibly could be one of those love-hate relationships."

            Lotte seemed confused. "How, how'd you know?"

            "You didn't notice how he looked at you when you were making goo-goo eyes at Larry when you two first met him. He was totally jealous! That's why he made fun of you when you said that thing about Larry being an ex-railroad worker is fascinating."

            "Kim, you don't understand. Nate's always teasing me. I never even talked to him once, but when we both joined the school newspaper, suddenly I was wisecrack of the week fodder for him. If anything that comes out of Nate's mouth can be considered wise."

            "Duh."

            "What?"

            "Lotte, as little as I know or understand about the male gender, _some_ guys are just way too obvious in matters of love and stuff."

            "If he was so obvious, why didn't **_I _**notice?"

            "Sometimes it takes an outsider to see those things."

            Lotte shook her head. "Now this I REALLY don't believe."

            "Think of the bright side. I mean, Nate's not hideously deformed or anything. I mean, he's pretty cute if you like the under-18 type. I know he's not going to be attending Harvard or Yale any time in the future, but he's pretty decent. Even if he's not the brightest star in the constellation."

            Lotte laughed lightly. "I don't know. I feel like I have to re-evaluate the way I think about Nate.

            "Guys are a confusing thing." I agreed.

            Lotte opened a drawer, and took out an envelope. "Hmm…this is addressed to someone named Miss Hawthorne."

            "Hawthorne. That name rings a bell." I nodded. "Open it."

            Lotte tore the envelope open, and read through the letter once.

            "Hey, this is interesting."

            "Well, what's it say?" I asked.

            "June 14, 1860." She started. "Dear Roberta,"

            I was all ears.

            "Roberta, my dearest friend, please do not be angry with me! Please do not take my rejection of your brother's marriage proposal as any disrespect towards you and your family. It was very kind of him to offer, but my heart is Lawrence's. He is the only man I will ever love. I know that your brother cares for me, but I can never see him as anything other than a friend. I lost my heart to Lawrence the moment I laid eyes on him. Roberta, my wedding will take place on June 21, the first day of summer. It would mean the world to me if you would be my maid of honor. I love you as the sister I never had. I cannot bear to have you angry at me! Please forgive me if I have in any way hurt you or your family. Sincerely, Melanie."

            "She wrote this on the 14th and her wedding was the 21st? She was kind of cutting it close. But I guess she never sent it out because of the earthquake. I wonder if Roberta was one of the people who died." I said.

            Lotte had a big smile on her face.

            "What are you smiling about?" I asked her.

            "I think we have a new candidate for the Phantom" She smiled.

            "You say that as if you're casting the movie version of the Lloyd Webber musical."

            Lotte dashed out of the room.

            "Hey, where are you going?" I called.

            "To tell Larry and Nate about it!" She called from far off.

            I shrugged and walked along after her. She had been so far ahead of me, I lost track of her. By the time I caught up to her, she was already in the ballroom talking to- no, wait, make that _arguing_- with Nate.       

            "You dumbass!" Lotte yelled.

            "Bee-yatch!" Nate countered.

            "Jerkass!"

            "Stupid!"

            "Immature!"

            "Too mature!"

            "What kind of insult is that?" Lotte asked. I slunk into the ballroom, and watched them argue from the doorway. It was actually pretty damn funny. They carried on like that for awhile until Nate said something totally unexpected.

            "I love you!" Except he shouted it like an insult.

            "I love you too!" Lotte shouted it back the exact same way. Then, her expression totally changed. Hmm…seems Lotte didn't tell me something earlier…

            "You love me?"

            "You love me too?" Nate asked.

            Then, they did something else unexpected. They totally kissed.

            I saw Melanie Ravenswood materialize over the staircase. There was a look of tormented sadness in her eyes. I didn't know why she was so sad about Lotte and Nate kissing, but then I remembered the picture of Melanie and Lawrence that was in the parlor. Nate was holding Lotte in almost the exact same way. Except they were playing an intense match of tonsil hockey, which Melanie and Lawrence were not doing in the photograph. Melanie looked deep into my eyes, with her really, really sad ones. A chill ran down my spine, and she disappeared.

              After they finally broke the embrace, Lotte and Nate looked up. Then they both got pale.

            "Kim?" They both said hoarsely.

            "Don't worry about it. I thought it was cute." I said, smiling. But I was still haunted by that look in Melanie's eyes.

            "Christine and Raoul- oh, I'm sorry- Nate and Lotte?"

            Lotte laughed. Nate looked confused.

            "What is it, Kim?" She asked.

            "Guys, I saw something really weird."

            "What?" Nate asked.

            "While the two of you were…locked in a passionate embrace, Melanie appeared. And she saw the two of you, and noticed you. She looked all sad, and I couldn't figure out why, but then I remembered that there was this picture of Melanie and Lawrence where he was holding her in the same way you were holding Lotte, Nate. Except they weren't making out."

            "Nate and I were **not** making out." Lotte protested.

            "Okay, okay. They weren't _kissing_. But you should have seen how weird she looked. She was all anguished."

            "Whoa. Creepy."

            "But you know what gets me? Melanie, according to Lawrence, never notices anything. She just walks around singing all the time."

            "That IS weird." Lotte said.

            "Yeah…weird." Nate agreed.

Notes: Sorry this is late! Aah, my life I tell you…but anyway, in the next chapter, Kim and the gang head out to Boot Hill, the graveyard!


	8. Booted to Boot Hill

A Phantom Awaits You by Flashbeagle

Chapter Eight: Booted to Boot Hill

Note: APAY will be on hiatus for the next two weeks, so after this chapter, you'll get an exclusive interview with Lotte O'Connell sometime next weekend while I fine-tune what I've got of the upcoming chapters.

            Nate and Lotte had gotten into their argument that ended up in a near make-out session before Lotte could explain to him about what we found we were upstairs, so after I told them about seeing Melanie, Lotte and I told Nate about Melanie's letter to Roberta, and the fact that Lotte thought Roberta's brother might be the Phantom, though I still thought the evidence pointed towards Mr. Ravenswood.

            "Lotte, just because Roberta's brother wanted to marry Melanie doesn't mean he was crazy enough to go all afterlife stalker on her and be the Phantom and kill Lawrence. Larry himself said that none of the other guys who wanted to marry Melanie didn't really care about her personally; they just wanted her money!"

            "But it's still a possibility! Look, okay, I know it's going off on a major tangent, but that thing Melanie said about only seeing Roberta's brother as a friend seems to say to me that she knew Roberta's brother liked her as a potential life partner." Lotte reasoned. "What was Roberta's last name again?"

            "Hawthorne." I responded. "Which sounds really familiar for some reason."

            "Ever read The Scarlet Letter? That's the author's last name."

            "No, I mean familiar like…like something I heard recently in relation to Ravenswood Manor. Maybe Larry would know."

            Nate nodded. "Good idea. Let's go find Larry!"

            As we were walking out to the graveyard to find Lawrence, Nate suddenly got all pale-faced and freaked out.

            "Nate, you okay?" I asked.

            "G-g-g…" He stammered.

            "Nate?" Lotte looked sort of concerned.

            "G-g-g-…gaah…gaaah!"

            "Nate!" Lotte and I both shouted.

            "GHOST!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

            We all looked ahead and when Lotte and I saw what Nate had been screaming about, we screamed equally as loud, because right down from us in the hallway was the Phantom, cackling wildly in our direction

            My adrenaline started pumping. I got the chills. I started hyperventilating, and I put my hands over my nose and mouth.

            "Oh my God…Oh my God!" I cried.

            The Phantom just continued his wicked laughter and stretched a bony hand in our direction.

            "Blaaah!" Nate screamed, as he jumped back. "Oh, shit. Oh shit! Look, Mr. Phantom Dude, we're not trying to…to…PLEASE don't kill us!" He begged.

            But the Phantom didn't even seem to notice Nate, Lotte and me.

            "Come to me, my darling." He said all scarily and forcefully and evilishly.

            "Oh my God!" I cried. Those exact same words had been spoken to me earlier this year when-

            "Oh gross!" Nate exclaimed.

            Suddenly, we could hear Melanie Ravenswood's singing. In an instant she materialized right in front of us.

            Lotte stumbled back. Nate jumped back even further. I was frozen in my tracks. I couldn't even move my legs.

            Oh God, why do things like this always happen to me?

            "Come to me." The Phantom repeated, but it was now clear that he was talking to Melanie.

            Melanie looked up at him, but just kept on singing.

            "Miss Melanie, there is something you should know." God, that Phantom has a creepy voice! It sort of sounds like the guy who was in all those horror movies…what's his face…I believe he was in House of Wax…did a lot of those Edgar Allan Poe movies that come on around Halloween…oh wait…I know! Vincent Price- voice of Professor Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective! Ben and I went to go see that movie at the theater!

            But um…back to the horrific incident that was taking place before my eyes.

            Melanie didn't respond to the Phantom.

            "Your darling Mr. James…you still believe he will return, don't you?"

            Again no response from the ghost girl.

            "I hate to break your heart, but he's does not want to marry you anymore."

            Nate suddenly looked really pissed off. "You dirty rotten liar!" He shouted at the Phantom. "Larry still loves Melanie! And he still wants to marry her!" Of course, neither the Phantom nor Melanie seemed to hear a word Nate said.

            "He thought, very mistakenly, that you were going to come to him. So he waited for you, and when you never showed, he became angry."

            "What a liar." Lotte said.

            "Shh! I wanna see where this is going!" I hissed.

            The way Melanie _wasn't_ responding to the Phantom had become sort of a running gag.

            "My darling, it's time for you to realize that your wedding will never take place unless you are willing to accept another man as your groom."

            For some reason, that remark really, really creeped me out.

            "What the…" Lotte trailed off.

            "I've loved you for so many years, Melanie. **I** still want to marry you. All these years I've wanted you to agree to marry me!"

            "Okay, that's definitely not her father." Nate commented.

            "Just what I was thinking." I agreed.

            "See? What'd I tell ya?" Lotte grinned.

            The ghost of Melanie Ravenswood just sort of faded away, leaving the Phantom alone. In a flash of thunder and lightning, he was gone. As creepy as that would usually be, it was made even creepier by the fact that the weather was really nice, and nowhere near storm conditions.

            Nate shook his head. "Whoa."

            "I knew it would be a jilted lover!" Lotte exclaimed. "I just had this feeling…in situations like this, the bad guy ALWAYS has the hots for the damsel in distress." She looked down for a moment, like she was thinking about something, and then Lotte looked up really quickly with her eyes gleaming. "I bet it's Roberta Hawthorne's brother! I bet you a million bucks it's Roberta Hawthorne's brother!"

            "Well, yeah, but then, what about all the stuff about Mr. Ravenswood? It all added up so perfectly!" I whined. Plus, I came up with that particular theory! I wanna be right about something!

            "Maybe it was deliberate. Maybe it was meant to mislead all of us!" Lotte said insightfully.

            "You know what?"

            "What, Kim?" Nate asked.

            "I think we should find Larry. Maybe he'll be able to tell us more about that guy. And plus, I think it's really important that he knows that the Phantom's all lying about him and all."

            "Good idea." Lotte agreed.

            We sort of quickly exited the house through the back door, followed a pathway, and found ourselves out on Boot Hill.

            I shuddered as we passed the first tombstones. They read:

            **Mary Murphy**

**            1837-1859**

**            "Till death…"**

**            Frank Ballard**

**            1829-1859**

**            "…do us part"**

**            Ma Ballard**

**           1800-1859**

**            "Over my dead body"**

            "Ugh. Can we make this quick?" I shivered.

            "Why?" Nate asked.

            "I, I HATE graveyards!" I exclaimed.

            "That makes two of us." Lotte shuddered, with a grossed out look on her face.

            Some of the graves were sort of interesting.

            **Jacques Schrillman**

**            Lynched by a couple of music lovers**

**            A wrong note was his end**

**May 9, 1865**

**            Peg Leg McBrogue**

**            The River Rogue**

**            Walked the Plank**

**            And sank**

**            Red Hot Harry**

**            He got hot**

**            But he was slow**

**            So he got put**

**            Six feet below**

**            These miners were told**

**            About digging too fast**

**            They lost all their gold**

**            In a dynamite blast**

**            B. Arnold**

**            Cold is my bed**

**            But oh, I love it**

**            For colder are my friends above it **              

Lotte read another one aloud.

            **Here lies Leadfoot Fred**

**            Danced too slow, and now he's dead**

**1802-1866**

"Guess he got trampled or something." Nate said.

"What?" Lotte asked.

"It said he died because he danced too slow. I was just thinking up a reason why."

            "Oh, okay." She nodded.

            I read the next two graves next to Leadfoot Fred's one aloud.

            **Jasper Jones, Loyal Manservant**

**            Died 1866**

**            Kept the Master Happy**

**            Anna Jones, Faithful Chambermaid**

**            Died 1867**

            Kept the Master Happier 

            I snorted. "Hey, that's funny!"

            Nate was looking over at a broken grave next to Anna Jones's.

            "**Valentine", said the horseman,**

            "Here lie the remnants of a broken man" 

            Nate scratched his head. "I don't get it."

            "Don't feel bad, Nate." I said. "I don't get it either. I mean, okay the thing's broken and then there's the "broken man" thing, but- oh, wait, I get it now!"

            "Huh? What?" He asked.

            "Valentine was the horse's name! Get it?" Lotte asked.

            Nate was plain-faced for a second, like he was trying to figure something out. Then he smiled and laughed.

            "Oh, okay. I get it! Makes sense!"

            The next grave freaked us all out.

            **Dakota Dick**

**            Hanged ****October 17, 1867******

**            Fell to death ****January 18, 1868******

**            Stabbed ****December 18, 1868******

**            Poisoned ****May 21, 1869******

            He will return 

            "Uh, let's hope he doesn't return any time soon." Lotte said.

            "Why can't dead guys just _stay_ dead?" I asked before we moved on.

            "Hey! Hey! Look at this one!" Nate laughed. "It's funny!"

            **Rest in peace,**

**            Barroom Benny**

            Seems he took one drink too many 

            "Hee hee!" He laughed. "He was a boozer!"

            We passed by this one grave, and all of a sudden, Nate got really pale.

            "Nate? What is it this time?" I asked, trying to sound calming, because Nate looked like he was in need of a good therapist.

            "I…I…hear a heartbeat." He said.

            "It's probably just your own." Lotte dismissed, but I could tell she was equally creeped out.

            And for the record, I was just as creeped out as they were.

            "No. No way. It's…it's…it's not me." Nate said. "I don't know how to describe it, but…it sounds like it's…it's…"

            "I know EXACTLY what you're talking about!" I interjected, thinking of poor Emily, the bride in the attic at Gracey Manor.

            "You do?" Lotte asked me.

            "It's a LONG story." I paused. Wait a second…what's that weird thumping sound?

"I hear it too."

"So do I." Lotte said. "Oh my God. This is way too weird."

The heartbeat got louder.

"I feel like I'm stuck in that Edgar Allan Poe story we read in 8th grade. 'Cept I didn't kill anyone." Nate commented.

"Let's…let's just go find Lawrence." I suggested.

"Good idea." Lotte agreed. "But wait, look. It's Mr. and Mrs. Ravenswood's grave."

Henry Ravenswood, 1795-1860 

**            Martha Ravenswood, 1802-1860**

**            Quarreled and fought as man and wife, now silent together beyond this life**

We all walked off after that. It didn't take us long to find Lawrence, who was looking through some headstones with drawings of funny looking people on them.

"Larry! Hey Larry!" Nate shouted. "Dude, you are not gonna BELIEVE what just happened to us."

"Um, hello Mr. Nate. Hello Miss Lotte. Hello Miss Kim." Lawrence said politely. "Um, what happened?"

Nate proceeded to tell him all the events that had just happened.

"And anyway," Lotte said, once Nate was done, "What was the name of Roberta Hawthorne's brother?"

"Derek." Lawrence said.

            "I KNEW that name sounded familiar!" I exclaimed. "That was the guy Mr. and Mrs. Ravenswood wanted Melanie to marry! It was on one of those old papers I read!"

"But…I don't believe that. Melanie's parents wanted her to marry him because they thought he'd be the next mayor of Thunder Mesa. I know that he did want to marry her, but I don't believe he loved Melanie enough to pursue her in the afterlife. He was one of those men who thought only about money."

"Well, it didn't really seem like love to me. It seemed more like an obsession." I said.

"I can't believe Melanie never told me he proposed to her again." Lawrence said.

"Maybe she thought it would make you mad." Lotte suggested.

"I would've been a bit offended, but I wouldn't have been mad! Well, alright, maybe I WOULD have been mad at him." Lawrence reasoned. "This just gets more twisted by the moment." He shook his head.

"Yeah, you can say that again." Nate said. "But wait…if the Phantom IS this Derek Hawthorne guy, why does he haunt Ravenswood Manor?"

"Larry, were Derek and Roberta killed in the earthquake? And were they at that party here that the Ravenswoods had that night?" Lotte asked.

"They were indeed there. And they were killed." Lawrence nodded. "Their graves are over there." He said, pointing to the left.

As we started to discuss what had happened, the possibility of Derek Hawthorne being the Phantom, we wandered away from Boot Hill. When we looked, up, we found ourselves in a very, very, extremely weird place.

"Oh my God." I said, my voice trailing off.

It was like we were in a cavern. And EVERYWHERE we looked were coffins and decrepit skeletons and cobwebs and a horrible stench floated through the cave.

            My stomach flipped. I think I can feel my lunch coming up…oh, man, I'm nauseous! That's how completely disgusting this place is!

            A rat squeaked past my foot.

            I screamed at the top of my lungs. "Aaaah! Rat! Aaaah!"

"This is so wrong." Lotte said.

As she said that, a skeleton dressed in old-fashioned cowboy get-up stood up, and started to cackle wildly.

All four of us screamed and started freaking out. Oh God…Oh God!! WHY can't these skeleton thingies just leave us alone? WHY??? Oh God, it's disgusting!! It's shaking its hands towards us, with its decayed clothing rustling, wild gray hair and a gross, disgusting smile plastered across its skull. Oh man, now I've really got to retch…

"Oh, yeah, this is way more wrong than I thought!" She panicked.

And if you think Lotte was panicking…you should've seen me. I was jumping and squealing and shivering and shaking and trembling and…

Oh God, GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	9. An Interview With Lotte O'ConnellBONUS

An Interview With Lotte O'Connell

NOTE: This interview would take place after the Ravenswood Manor experience. This includes no spoilers.

Flashbeagle (F): Hi everyone and welcome to my exclusive interview with our spunky new friend, Ms. Lotte O'Connell. Lotte is a junior at St. Joan's High School and works as an intern for our heroine, Ms. Kimberly Fox. Ladies and gentlemen, Lotte O'Connell!

Lotte O'Connell (L): It's great to be here, Flashbeagle.

F: So Lotte, tell us some about yourself. Just some basic facts and all.

L: Well, I was born on January 6, 1988. My full name is Charlotte Miranda O'Connell. I'm of Irish ancestry- well, mostly. I've got some Mexican and German blood on my mother's side. I'm good at English, I'm not too bad at math, but my passion is music.

F: Tell us more about that. What kind of music do you like?

L: Well, believe it or not, I love classical music and opera! I take voice lessons and one day I'd like to be an operatic mezzo-soprano- in between fronting my own music. I'd like to start a band, have real instruments, and write my own music.

F: Awesome! So…why are you interested in journalism?

L: I like to write, and actually I cover mostly music for the school paper. I'm not quite sure why I got assigned to assist Kim- I was actually disappointed to intern for a travel writer- that is, until I actually met Kim.

F: So…what's it like working with the great Kim Fox?

L: Awesome! She's just like another teenager! Kim's so funny and fun and cool.

F: Tell us about your initial attraction to Lawrence.

L: (Groans) Come on, if I knew he was a dead taken guy, would I have even looked twice at him? Larry's cute- no doubt about that.

F: Tell us about your relationship with Nate Evans.

L: (Laughs) Nate annoys the living hell out of me. But I think I like that about him. He's cute, isn't he?

F: Sure. But he's so dumb!

L: I know, but…I can't really explain it. I guess it's a love-hate thing.

F: But you're not dumb.

L: No, I'm not.

F: You're really smart.

L: Well, not really…I mean, I study hard. I take school very seriously. I want to get into a good college.

F: What college?

L: NYU. My dream school.

F: Cool.

L: Though I like California better than New York. I prefer hot weather- and a nearby beach.

F: What's your favorite ride at Disneyland?

L: Pirates of the Caribbean. And contrary to Nate's belief, it is NOT because of Johnny Depp!

F: Do you like Johnny Depp?

L: Hell yeah! My favorite actor- and Kim's too.

F: Favorite actress?

L: Nicole Kidman

F: Favorite movie?

L: Um, Moulin Rouge.

F: Favorite Disney movie?

L: Animated, I love The Little Mermaid. Live action, um, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl or Freaky Friday. I know people can't stand her, particularly someone named Kim Fox, but I think Lindsay Lohan's pretty cool.

F: Favorite TV show?

L: Um, (laughs), promise you won't laugh?

F: I swear.

L: That's So Raven.

F: (snickers)

L: I know! I know! I'm not even a big fan of Raven's…but I love those Disney Channel shows! Even Stevens and Lizzie McGuire are cool too…but I would never, never tell anyone I watch them! Well, I just told you now…

F: So, what shows do you tell people you watch?

L: Well, I really do enjoy Trading Spaces. Kim likes it too. Nate hates it.

F: What does Nate like to watch?

L: Um, he loves Family Guy and King of the Hill, I know that.

F: Are you aware that you have the same name as a character in Phantom of the Opera…well, sort of. The Lloyd Webber version, I mean.

L: That was actually not intentional. My parents love Phantom- particularly my mom- and when they realized "Lotte" could be used as a diminutive for "Charlotte", they started calling me that. I was actually about six at the time, but the name stuck. Before they would just call me "Char".

F: Okay, um favorite food?

L: Mexican.

F: Favorite specific food/

L: Enchiladas. The spicier the better!

F: Do you like sports?

L: Nooooo. Not at all.

F: Favorite book?

L: Don't make me choose. Um…wow…hard question…I like…um…I guess I would have to say The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.

F: Cool.

L: I read it a million times my freshman year of high school.

F: Favorite musicians?

L: Myself. (laughs) Um, I love too many to list. And I like pretty much everything. I even like country!

F: Favorite song?

L: Even harder!

F: What's your favorite thing about Nate Evans?

L: His smile. Corny, but true. I can't believe I fell for such a dumbass.

F: Do you and Nate have any mutual friends?

L: No. I hang out with the musicians and choir people, and he hangs with the class clowns. They make fun of our group quite often, which is why I disliked him in the first place.

F: Can you tell us about your next assignment with Kim Fox?

L: All I know is that it's going to be at some place on the East Coast. Not sure where or what.

F: Well, we're all out of time. Lotte, would you like to say anything to the audience?

L: Yes. When life gives you lemons, try to make lemonade and if you can't, make a lemon pie.

Nate Evans: What does that mean?

L: Nate? What are you doing here?

N.E.: Well, um, I was bored so I eavesdropped.

L: (groans) Ugh! Well, it means if you're in a bad situation and you can't seem to make the best of it, approach it from a different angle.

N.E.: Huh? Lemon pie? Never tried that.

L: Aaaaaaah….

F: So, um, that's all from us! Expect the next installment of A Phantom Awaits You in about a week and a half, and then, we'll be treated to an interview with Nate Evans! Bye!


	10. Calamity Kim and Phantom Canyon

A Phantom Awaits You

Chapter Nine: Calamity Kim and Phantom Canyon

The skeleton wobbled right up to a coffin, knocked on it, and a few seconds later, another skeleton had risen. And before we knew it, the entire cave was full of trembling, laughing, disgusting skeletons!

I was whimpering like a baby. That's how scared I was!

The skeletons started to dance together, and out of nowhere, some ghostly music started playing from out of nowhere.

Oh my God. They're dancing. They're DANCING! Those skeletons are dancing and reveling as more restless bones etherialized.

You know, if this was something that I was watching on TV, I'd think that it was really cool. In real life, however…it's not.

I'm way too creeped out to even move. So are Lawrence, Nate, and Lotte. We're all just standing there, staring at those awful skeletons, who looked like they were laughing at us. Oh man, this is SCARY!

"We've got to get out of here." Lawrence said.

"How?" I croaked.

"Um, well…" He trailed off. "We could turn around and…RUN!"

All four of us turned quickly and sprinted really, really fast.

Oh my God. Oh my God. I'm running for my life! Again.

The skeletons around us kept on cackling and howling.

"Where are you going?" One of them leered.

"Just ignore them!" Lawrence advised.

A skeleton in decaying cowboy clothes with faded white hair popped in front of us.

We all screamed. Lotte jumped into Nate's arms. I started to hyperventilate again and started shaking and trembling. Oh man, I am not good with skeletons and zombies. Not good at all.

"Stay awhile!" The skeleton wheezed.

"No!" Lotte and Nate shouted.

Lawrence looked around nervously, reached forward, and grabbed the skeleton and threw it behind us.

"Whoa, great move, Ghost Boy!" Nate cheered.

"Be quiet, Mr. Nate! We have to get out of here!" Lawrence shouted.

We ran straight out of the cave, through Boot Hill, which was eerily silent, past the gates of Ravenswood Manor, and into Thunder Mesa. I was starting to feel like a contestant on Legends of the Hidden Temple during the final Temple race.

Nate, Lotte, Lawrence, and I found ourselves wandering through a really scary field-type area.

"Oh great." Lotte groaned. "We're lost again." The sky around us was a really weird shade of yellow. I've never seen the sky that color before…it's sort of a sickly shade of yellow that makes me want to throw up…The ground below us was dry and cracked, and in the distance we could hear what sounded like cowboys on their horses.

We followed a dirt pathway, at the end of which was this building with a giant sign screaming **_TICKETS_** on top of it. There was a skeleton dressed in old-fashioned ticket seller garb standing perfectly still inside of it. Uh oh…I don't trust that skeleton…

"Buy a ticket?" It shouted suddenly.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" I screamed, jumping back. Nate made a sort of weird whining sound, Lotte's screamed sounded more like "eeeeeeeeeeeeeh!" and Lawrence just sort of gasped loudly.

"N-no thank you." Lawrence stumbled. He motioned for all of us to move on, but the skeleton ticket seller just went on offering us tickets and giggling at us.

Behind the ticket booth was a giant building that was labeled CITY HALL. On the building was a banner with the word WELCOME painted on it in red paint. Right in front of it was a portly man with a bushy beard in an expensive-looking old-fashioned suit and holding a key with a skull on it. He had a silvery-gray face, and this weird aura to him…I've never seen a gray-faced ghost before. Just ones that look like normal humans (sort of) and ones that look like skeletons.

Lawrence took in a sharp breath. "That's the mayor of Thunder Mesa from 1860! He was killed in the earthquake!"

"You mean he's a ghost?" Nate asked. "Whoa!"

"Is that surprising?" Lotte asked dryly. "Look at the key to the city. Gives new meaning to the term 'skeleton key'."

The mayor turned his gaze at us. "Ah! There you are! Welcome, foolish mortals." He spoke in a deep, slightly mockingly threatening voice.

"Well, sir, I'm not a mortal." Lawrence cut in politely. "I'm a ghost; like you."

The mayor continued. "There's no turning back now. Your cadaverous pallor betrays an aura of foreboding…or is it your imagination?"

Imagination? Pfft. I wish.

"Welcome to Thunder Mesa." The mayor went on. "We find it delightfully unlivable here in this ghostly retreat! Actually, we have 999 happy haunts here, but there's room for a thousand. Any volunteers, hmm?"

Oh God, no!

Nate, Lotte, and I shuddered.

"If you should decide to join us, final arrangements may be made at the end of the tour."

As if.

The mayor tipped his hat to us, only he didn't tip his hat. He took off his entire head!

I screamed and jumped back again. Nate shrieked, Lotte shuddered, and Lawrence just sort of winced.

We walked on and stepped into the main city.

Remember how cool I thought Thunder Mesa looked during the daytime? Well, um, it's not so charming under the moonlight, that's for sure. It's all decayed looking and dilapidated and scary.

"Ew." Lotte shuddered. "This place is really creepy at nighttime."

"Wow." Lawrence said. "I haven't been here since…wow, since the day of the wedding. It's changed so much. It used to be so…so…charming! So happy! So populous! So…alive! But now it's, it's…"

"A ghost town?" I suggested.

"Exactly." Lawrence said.

"And in more than one sense of the phrase too." Lotte said, pointing to something.

Now, I've seen TONS of freaky, odd, scary, creepy, disturbing, and just plain wrong things in the past year.

But this one just dwarfs them all. I can safely say that in my life, I've NEVER seen anything so freakishly weird.

The shops and saloons of Thunder Mesa were populated with even more gray-faced ghosts who were reveling and laughing and doing ghost stuff, all of them dressed in Old West attire.

"Oh my God." I said, as I spun around slowly and took in everything.

"This is like being a character in some weird Western." Lotte noted.

"Yeah." I agreed. "All we need now are corny cowboy and cowgirl names. Just call me Calamity Kim."

Lawrence snickered, but then looked around the small city and his expression went from being amused to being creeped out, because the ghosts seemed to be surrounding us.

"Oh wow." Lawrence said breathlessly. "This is…"

"Bad." Nate finished.

"Well, it might not be bad. They might not mean us harm." Lawrence reasoned.

A bullet whizzed through the air right in between Nate and Lawrence's heads.

"Oh yeah, they mean us harm!" Nate exclaimed. The gunshot had come from this howling bandit, who was grabbing onto a light post with one hand, and wielding a pistol in the other hand.

"Go inside one of the buildings!" Lotte advised.

"Yeah!" We all stumbled into a pharmacy. From inside, we could see that the bandit was firing at the town sheriff, who was hiding behind a lamppost. Stupid place to hide, if you ask me.

We turned around to face the gray-faced ghost of an apothecary. The apothecary didn't seem to notice us at all. He just kept on pouring glowing stuff into this goblet and then stirred it up. He drank it, and then faced us. He smiled, and his face became monstrously hideous for a moment.

I screamed. Lotte, Nate, and Lawrence winced and groaned. We dashed out of the pharmacy and into the neighboring saloon. A ghostly piano player was playing away in the back of the saloon. Coming out of the piano was a skeleton's arm, holding a candelabra much like the one Melanie's been holding inside the Manor. A dancer stood in one of the doorways, and a bartender kept on pouring drinks, some of which he stopped to quaff himself.

"Wonder if he was Barroom Benny." Lotte observed.

The entire building started to quiver, so we all ran out of it, and back into the streets of Thunder Mesa. The gunfire had stopped, the bandit was nowhere to be seen, and the town was eerily quiet. We kept on walking down the path, which led us up a hill. There was a giant canyon behind the city, out of which came an eerie blue glow. Atop the hill there was a gnarled dead oak tree. The sky was still that sickly yellow color, and the air smelled disgusting.

Oh man, now I REALLY feel like throwing up…

"I feel sick." I moaned.

"You're not alone." Nate said. "Oh man, I can feel my lunch coming back up, and I can even taste my digested sandwi-"

"Shut up, Nate!" Lotte shot out, annoyed. "Could you **be** more disgusting?"

"I could, actually." But before Nate could say anything more, his face froze and he stared forward.

"Ghost?" Lotte asked.

Nate nodded. "Ph-ph…"

"Phantom?" Lawrence finished.

Nate nodded again.

We all looked forward to see the Phantom rising out of a grave. Instead of being all skeleton-like, he was…well…rotting. His clothes were tattered and dirty, and he still laughed at us, and pointed to an open coffin next to his grave.

I shut my eyes and shivered. My throat hurt too much to scream. Plus I felt that if I opened my mouth, I'd throw up.

Lawrence, Lotte, and I started sprinting away downhill, but Nate stood there, staring.

"Nate, you idiot, come on!" Lotte shouted.

Nate blinked and caught up to us. We couldn't see the Phantom anymore, but we could see that the path led through Boot Hill and back up to Ravenswood Manor.

"Nate, why'd you take so much time back there?" Lotte asked.

"The Phantom was rising out of a grave with a headstone on it."

"And…" Lawrence prompted.

"So I looked to see what the name was."

"What was it?" I croaked.

"Derek Hawthorne."

"I knew it!" Lotte exclaimed. "I knew it!"

"So…we know who the Phantom is." Lawrence said. "What do we do now?"

For some odd strange reason, all three of them looked at me.

"What are you looking at me for?" I complained.

End Notes: Sorry this took much longer than I had envisioned it to. I cannot give a concrete date for the next update. It may or may not be next weekend. I'm saying maybe about two or three. I'm swamped at the moment!


	11. Kim and a Course of Action

A Phantom Awaits You by Flashbeagle

Chapter Ten: Kim and a Course of Action

Disclaimer: Kim, Lotte, Nate, and all the aspects of their world are my own original creation. Lawrence is the elaboration of a character on the ride. All the other characters are featured in the ride and therefore belong to Disney.

"We just wanted to know if you have any ideas, Miss Kim." Lawrence said. "None of us have any ideas."

"Well, have you guys even tried to think of anything? Trust me, you only want my ideas as a last resort." I said quickly.

"But your theory about Mr. Ravenswood was so thoughtful, Miss Kim!" Lawrence said.

Aww…for a second there I wanted to hug Lawrence, as I believe that's the first time anyone has said something that came out of my mouth was thoughtful.

"Yeah, but I was wrong, wasn't I?" Oh geez, I really don't want to have to think up a stupid plan, because I know it's gonna be wrong, and I know I'm just gonna have to think up a new one!

"That's not the point, Kim!" Lotte argued.

"Well, why can't you guys try to think of one?"

"I wouldn't know what to do." Nate shrugged.

"Well, neither do I!" I said. "I mean, okay, we wanted to find out who the Phantom is, and we did it. What exactly are we trying to do now?"

Nate, Lotte, and Lawrence were silent.

"Well, Miss Kim, we were going to try to see how the Phantom was controlling Melanie. Remember?" Lawrence said.

It was my turn to be silent. "Oh yeah. You know, with the whole ordeal out at Phantom Canyon I just totally forgot!" I laughed nervously. "Okay, um, so we're gonna try to find out how the Phantom's controlling Melanie. But how?"

"We could try to talk to her." Lotte reasoned.

"How? The last time we saw Melanie neither she nor the Phantom noticed us at all!" I countered.

"Maybe they just pretended not to notice us." Nate said.

"Why? Why would they do that?"

"Um, I don't know." Nate shrugged.

"I'll be the Phantom noticed us." Lotte said insightfully. "And he chose to ignore us because…well, we were annoying him."

I shook my head. "None of this makes sense."

Lawrence looked up. "Wait. You said Melanie noticed when Miss Lotte and Mr. Nate were kissing. She never notices anything!"

"Well, maybe that was just a one-time thing." I shrugged. "But I guess we could try. What could it hurt?" Although I said that, inside I was thinking, 'It may not hurt, but it'll never work.' I mean, come on! I've learned my lesson when it comes to ghosts. When you want them to do something, they don't. When you want them to listen to you, they don't.

But I didn't want to seem like I was being overly negative, so I kept my mouth shut.

"We should split up." Lotte stated.

"Nah, I think we should stick together!" Nate countered.

"If we split up, we'll be able to cover more ground." Lotte reasoned.

"Yeah, but if we stick together we'll be safer." Nate said. "You know, in case the Phantom tries to like, do something to us."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Kill us, or something?"

"Why would he kill us? We'd just end up sticking around here for all eternity." Lotte said.

"And if he did that," Lawrence started. "He'd probably be able to control you, just like he did Melanie. He may not try that, but it's a risk we do not want to take. I agree with you, Mr. Nate. We should stick together. What do you think, Miss Kim?"

Ugh. I hadn't thought of the Phantom trying to kill and control us yet. Great. Another thing to worry about.

"Yeah, we should stick together." I nodded. "But, um, where are we going to find her? We've seen her in different places every time."

Lawrence shook his head. "I've seen her most often in the hallway upstairs."

"Was she holding a candelabra?" I asked.

"Yes, ma'am. Every single time." Lawrence affirmed.

"Well, let's go!" Nate said enthusiastically. "We gotta try!"

The four of us began to head up the stairs when Lotte suddenly got an inquisitive look on her face.

"Larry?" She asked suddenly.

"Yes, Miss Lotte?"

"Larry, have you ever encountered the ghost of Roberta Hawthorne?"

"No, Miss Lotte. Well, I've seen her. Her spirit dwells in the ballroom. She's still dancing with her favorite suitor, Mr. Reginald Paulsen." Lawrence explained. "Why?"

"Just curious. I mean, she was the Phantom's sister when they were alive. Maybe she'd know more about why the Phantom did what he did…after he died."

"Maybe so. We could try to talk to her, too." Nate said.

"What we need to find is someone who witnessed when the Phantom took control of Melanie's mind." I said insightfully. "But I'm guessing that all the ghosts that were around then are under his control now too."

"Except me." Lawrence reminded.

"Hey, yeah, how did you avoid getting put under the Phantom's control?" Nate asked.

"For the longest time, I didn't leave the portrait hall where he killed me." Lawrence explained. "When I finally wandered out, the ghosts were pretty much the way they are now."

"So you don't know of anyone who might know stuff?" I asked.

"No, Miss Kim. If I did, I would have asked them already myself." Lawrence said.

"Let's try to find and talk to Melanie first. If that fails, then we can try to find someone who would know what the Phantom did to all the ghosts." Lotte strategized.

"Good plan." Nate said.

We headed all the way down the hallway, and stood around waiting.

"Nothing's happening." Nate said after a long while.

"Brilliant observation, Sherlock." Lotte said dryly.

Nate shot Lotte an annoyed look. "I was just saying…"

"I know what you were saying, Nate." Lotte cut him off.

"So why do you have to be so mean about it?" Nate whined.

"Ugh, I wasn't-"

"Were too!"

"You didn't even let me finish my sentence!" Lotte shouted.

"Whoa, whoa, hey!" I broke in. "Nate! Lotte! Cool it!"

"Sorry, K.F." Nate said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, Kim. I'm sorry, Larry." Lotte said apologetically.

"Aw, you two don't need to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong." Lawrence said with a friendly smile on his face. Suddenly he got a far-off look on her face. "Wait." He said very softly. "I hear her."

"Melanie?" Nate asked.

"Who else would it be?" Lotte responded.

Nate opened his mouth to say something, but I shot him a 'DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT' look and he remained silent.

I stopped to listen, and then I heard Melanie's singing.

"She has such a beautiful voice." Lotte commented.

"The most beautiful voice in the world." Lawrence said dreamily.

We heard her singing for a long time, before she appeared directly in front of us, though her back was turned to us. She gripped the candelabra in her hand.

"Well, here goes nothing." I said, stepping in front of everyone else.

"Wait!" Lotte whispered.

"Just let me try, okay?" I whispered back. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I figured that what to do would come to me as I went along.

I leaned forward and tapped her shoulder. "Um, excuse me, Melanie." I said.

Melanie didn't even seem to notice me at all.

I walked directly in front of her, cleared my throat.

"Melanie, we need to talk to you."

Thanks to all my readers and reviewers! I appreciate you guys so much!

I'm currently remodeling the story's end, and I'm busy, so Chapter 11 will come along in about two weeks. Sorry to keep you guys waiting!


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